A Hero in a Half Shell
by The Legendary Dragon Reaper
Summary: After the events of the Mutation Situation, Michelangelo decides that his days of being the screw up of the team are over and decides to seriously step up his game. With his new friend Kayla Kurtzman backing him up, Mikey might just become the greatest ninja of all. Rewrite of Hero in a Half Shell. Michelangelo x OC.
1. A Turtle's Resolve

Things had not gone well for the Turtles, like even remotely.

The Kraang were back, canisters of Mutagen had been spread out all over New York City which would lead to all sorts of chaos in the future, April's father had been turned into a hideous mutant bat, and April had blamed the Turtles for it and yelled at them that she never wanted to see them again.

Granted none of them were feeling 100% about what had happened, but one of them felt more to blame for it than the others, and that is what would set him on his new path.

The path to becoming the greatest and worthiest ninja of all.

This is where his story truly begins…

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Splinter frowned at what he was hearing after it had all been explained "This is all very grave news, very grave news indeed my sons."

"I can't believe this is happening." Donnie muttered "Poor April."

"You cannot dwell on the past my sons, in times such as these you can only look towards the future. But for now you must find every last lost canister of mutagen. You must search every street, every park and playground, every building and rooftop, every alley and corner before we have even more mutants on our hands." then he noticed something and looked over at one of them in particular "Michelangelo, you seemed more trouble than the rest of you. Is there something else bothering you?"

Mikey let out a long sigh, his voice soft "It's my fault."

"Mikey we all screwed up with the Mutagen spill." Leo told him "We're all to blame and we're all gonna fix it."

"No I get that, I mean the thing with April." this caused Donnie to cringe and shut the four of them up "You guys kept telling me to shut up but I didn't listen, words just kept pouring out of me and I ruined our friendship with her! If I had just kept my mouth shut then April wouldn't hate us right now! Face it, I screwed up again just like I always do! I'm not a ninja, I'm a total joke and an idiot for not realizing it until now!" and he stormed off.

"Mikey wait." Leo and the others prepared to go after him.

However, Splinter held out a hand in front of them and stopped them "Let him go, he needs to calm his mind."

"But sensei…"

"This is something that Michelangelo must figure out on his own in order to understand himself on a deeper level, and grow both as a ninja and as a person."

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The streets of New York were as bustling as ever, even around midnight.

Mikey was racing across the rooftops, alone with his thoughts both in his head and out loud "It's always stuff like this, I'm fine until something serious comes up and then I botch it by being such a huge screw up!" he sat down on the ledge and sighed "And now even April is gone because of me, what am I supposed to do now?"

"What do you want from me?!"

Mikey looked down and let out a groan '_Oh great, these punks again.'_

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As it turns out it was just Fong and the Purple Dragons robbing an old man "Hey check it out boys, we found ourselves a walking ATM." he pulled out a pocket knife "How about I go ahead and make a withdrawal." he took some money from the old man "Attaboy, now be sure to fork over the watch too." he heard a thud and looked back to see one of his guys on the ground and a figure standing over him "What the hell?"

As it turns out it was a female figure in a white blouse with a pair of dark blue jeans, a pair of black gloves on each hand with a set of tegaki attached to each, as well as long brown hair tied back in a ponytail and a pair of shades, as well as a pair of black gloves with claws on them "You pieces of trash picked the wrong night, you're in my town now punks."

"Nice threads punk, and just who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"All you need to know is that I'm the last face you're gonna see before you wake up lying in a ditch somewhere."

"Oh is that right? Get her boys!" and the three of them charged forward.

The woman ducked under various attempted punches and flipped the big guy, Sid, into a nearby trash can "Choke on this one suckers!" she picked up the trash can with Sid in it and threw it into the other two before beating down on them a little bit more with her tegaki.

Mikey observed this from atop a nearby fire escape "No way this girl is out of her gourd, and I thought Raph was bad. I'd better stop this before he gets out of hand."

The woman blitzed in front of Fong and dealt him a critical uppercut to the jaw, knocking him out cold "He shoots and he scores, so who wants the next ass beating."

"Hey that's enough, we give up already, just let us go." Fong pleaded desperately.

"Oh not a chance, I'm not done with you two punks yet." she raised one of her claws, only to feel something grab her from behind and throw her to the ground, and she noticed a figure in the shadowy corner of the alley "Alright show yourself, I know you're there."

"...Fine." so Mikey revealed emerged from the shadows and revealed himself "You didn't have to be so hard on them you know."

"Maybe not but I did so for two reasons: First, I had to get the point across, something that you and your friends never seemed to be able to do. Second, I used them as bait to get you down here so I could finally meet one of the famed talking ninja turtles who saved the world." this was followed by the Purple Dragons running away during their conversation.

"You know about me?"

"Well my uncle does, he's a journalist and I might have gotten into a few of his papers a couple of times and made some copies."

"And he knows about me and my bros?"

"...Tell you what, let's make a deal. You and I go one on one, if you can beat me then I'll tell you everything that you need to know."

"Do I have to?"

"Yep."

"...Fine." he pulled out his nunchucks "Alright, let's do this."

"Works for me." and so they charged, tegaki and retractable against nunchucks.

Mikey quickly bound both of the figure's claws using his nunchucks "I don't like fighting girls if I don't have to, I mean chivalry is a thing for a reason, but I need to know that you're not gonna hurt my brothers." he dealt the figure a spin kick that sent her skidding backwards a small distance.

The figure leapt back up and quickly tackled Mikey into a wall "If you wanna know about me then you've gotta earn those details!" she swung at Mikey's head with a knife hand attack.

Mikey dodged the attack and leapt up into the air as he fired off some shuriken.

The figure suddenly materialized a shield on her left forearm and blocked the attack "Throwing stars huh? Not too shabby I've gotta admit." she dematerialized the shield.

"Then let me see how you deal with this." Mikey put away his nunchucks and decided to resort to hand to hand combat.

"Let's do this." she pressed a button on the watch on her wrist and her arms and legs glowed blue for a moment "Let's go!" she blitzed out of existence.

'He's fast!' Mikey managed to block the first attack, which quickly resulted in the two of them trading blows, though Mikey was at a clear disadvantage, leaving a good number of bruises all over him as a result "How… the shell… are you… so fast?"

"Artificial gravity seals, I do a little bit of incenting in my spare time." the figure promptly leapt over Mikey and kicked him in the back of the shell, knocking him to the ground "So this is why most turtles are considered endangered."

"Yeah, but the difference is that they can't do this!" Mike flipped over and dealt the figure a solid two legged kick to the jaw, sending her flying into the air.

However, the figure quickly rebounded and landed back on her feet "Okay, yeah I think that's enough. I've seen enough, you're the real deal alright."

"Yeah you've got that right." Mikey spat out some blood "Okay a deal's a deal, we've gotta talk."

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It wasn't long before the two of them took their discussion to a nearby rooftop.

Mikey leaned up against a water tower "Alright, start talking. What's with the moves, how do you know about who me and my brothers are, who the shell are you?"

The figure too off his shades, revealing a pair of beautiful blue eyes, and she let out a sigh "Okay so hear's the deal. My name is Kayla Kurtzman, I'm only 16. Up until about a month ago, I was living with my parents in my home on Long Island. My mom is a therapist and my dad was a police officer, everything was fine up until about a month ago."

"What do you mean, what- Oh. Oh shell."

"Yeah, my dad was killed during the whole technodrome crisis last month. He died doing what he loved to do, helping people and saving lives."

"Wow, I never really thought about…"

"Whether or not anyone died that day? Well it's not like you could've done much, you can't be seen by the public. Anyway my mom and I moved here to Manhattan, well to Brooklyn to be more specific, since my uncle Jack on my mom's side lives here too. Once we were settled in for the most part he told me everything he was working in but swore me to secrecy. He's a journalist who's been investing the case of those missing scientists last year until he discovered something that goes way beyond that."

Mikey was quick to realize what he was talking about "You mean the Kraang."

"Yep that's right." Kayla pulled out a notebook "This is just a copy I made, my uncle Jack has the original. These guys infiltrating Earth is long lived, more ancient than you could ever imagine. The Kraang have been trying to use their mutagen to turn the Earth into their own screwed up playground for thousands upon thousands of years, but the problem is that they couldn't use the mutagen in our dimension without a certain specific chain of human DNA. They spent thousands of years capturing, shaping the genetic code of humankind until after all this time, they finally did it." she revealed a picture of an infant.

"Is that… April?"

"Her mother was taken by the Kraang before April was born and then they experimented on her with the mutagen. That's why April is so special and so important to the Kraang, her DNA is the key to perfecting the mutagen in this dimension. Anyway you already know that their goal is to mutate the Earth so that they can live on it and they need April to do that, but we need to let them know that the Earth isn't gonna go down without a fight."

"So about the claws, the tegaki, the gravity seals or whatever?"

"I've always had a knack for science and inventing stuff, after I found out about the stuff I just got some better resources. See a few days after the technodrome fiasco my uncle tried to find some useful info in the ruins of TCRI and kind of followed him. He went for the Kraang computers, I went for what was left of the tech they used for their weapons and stuff and reverse engineered the metal that they used for their weapons and Kraang droids to make these rings that I saw in some Bruce Lee movie, artificial gravity seals like stuff I saw in Naruto and Dragon Ball, all sorts of other inventions I keep in my lab at home, and my personal favorite: a pair of cat claws that I had forged by combining the metal used to make the Kraang with various other materials to make it way stronger than any metal on Earth. Take a wild guess what they're based on."

"Black Panther claws?"

"Sort of a mix of Black Panther and Black Cat actually."

"Huh. Nice."

"I know right? Plus I took a few years of classes and now I'm a 7th degree black belt so that helps. So now that the serious stuff is out of the picture, why the hell are you out here all alone anyway?"

"...You know about that shipment of Mutagen in that Kraang stealth ship?"

"Yeah and how like 30 or so canisters dropped down over the city? I'm working on a tracker for the stuff right now so that oughta help."

"Well… April's dad was hit by one of the canisters and got turned into a psycho mutant bat, and now April blames us for it. It probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't opened my big stupid mouth. I just needed to think about my approach to stuff like this."

"And what did you decide?"

"That I need a new shtick, a new approach. I'm gonna be a better ninja, a better me, starting now."

"I see, well I'm glad to hear it. Just in case anything happened where you had to amp up your arsenals I made some weapons for you and the others from the same metal as the Kraang exoskeletons." Kayla pressed a button on her watch, and a pair of weapons suddenly materialized in front of her "I made a pair of kama blades for you, the others are still a work in progress but I figured that now was as good a time as any."

Mikey tried out the kamas a little bit and stuck them in his belt next to his nunchucks "These are awesome, thanks man."

"Sure thing." Kayla handed him a card "I know for a fact that you and the other Turtles are gonna need my expertise again so here's my number."

"Kayla Kurtzman: Part time inventor, part time journalist, part time vigilante, full time highschool student. Huh. Nice." he heard his phone ringing "You got Mikey."

"_Mikey it's Leo, what happened back there?"_

"Oh hey, sorry. I just needed to get my head together you know?"

"_Mikey none of us would've blamed you for what happened with April, she probably would've just found out any other way. Just come on back, Master Splinter is gonna want us for training in a few hours anyway."_

"Yeah I know. And Leo? I'm done being the screw up for the team, from now on I'm going full force with the training and I'm gonna be the best Mikey that I can."

"_...Okay, glad to hear it."_

"I'll be back at the lair in a few." he hung up and turned to Kayla "So uh-"

"Go ahead and do what you have to do." Kayla waved him off "Give me a call in a few days and I'll show you the new mutagen tracker that I've been working on."

"Sure thing. And Kayla… thanks, this is what I needed to hear to get myself back off the ground and running again. You take care of yourself." and so he promptly took off '_This is it Mikey, the start of a new you from here on out.'_

Kayla watched him go before taking off in the opposite direction '_Dad, you once said that all anyone needs in life is a good friend. Maybe I can be that friend for him, and then this city will know what we can do.'_

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Morning came, and training was in full swing.

As it turns out, Raph had been paired against Mikey in a one on one sparring match "You don't have to worry Mikey, I'm in a good mood today so I'll go easy on you."

"Yeah sure you will." Mikey whipped out his nunchucks '_I'd better not use those kamas that I got from Kayla or else the guys and sensei will know about him. _Don't do me any favors or anything Raph, I'll have you pinned down in 2 minutes tops."

"Pretty big talk coming from someone with the brain of an avocado, I'll wipe that smirk off your face soon."

"Hajime!" Splinter made the call.

"Good, now let's do this!" so Raph charged forward.

"I don't think so!" Mikey rolled underneath the attempted charged and blocked an fierce attack from Raph's sais and extended the chains on his nunchucks, allowing him to bind Raphael's legs, which gave him the chance to deal Raph a spin kick to the jaw, followed by one to the chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Ya Me!" Splinter made the call and ended the match "Well done Michelangelo, I can see your outing last night was what you needed for today's training."

"Thank you sensei." Mikey got up and bowed "Last night I just decided that I needed to reevaluate how I'm doing my ninja thing."

"I see. That is enough for now, we will continue this training session later. Michelangelo, I wish to speak with you." this prompted Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello to leave the dojo, which left only Splinter and Mikey "Tell me my son, is there something that you would wish to tell me?"

"...I shell dialed you on the cheese phone again didn't you?"

"Yes, yes you did."

"Well… okay yeah, you know how I met this girl Kayla fighting the Purple Dragons and he told me about how her dad died in the whole thing with the Technodrome a few months ago, and how her uncle has been spying on the Kraang and getting all sorts of crazy info and using scraps of their tech to make some tegaki and a pair of cat claws and junk that he says are made out of the same metal used by the Kraang. Plus he gave me these." he pulled out the kamas that Kayla had given him "My guess is that they're some kind of thing of good faith, you know to prove that we can trust him."

"I see. And do you think we can trust him?"

"...I think that now that April hates us it's a good idea to get another human on our side, so I think it's for the best that I at least see what his deal is."

"I see. Very well then, if you believe this to be the best course of action then you have my full support. Tell me, what else did she say?"

"That she's going to be spending the next few days building some kind of Mutagen Tracker to find the canisters that me and the guys lost."

"I see. Well then perhaps you should aid her in this quest, after all if the Kraang have returned then another ally would be invaluable. You are dismissed."

"Hai sensei." and so Mikey left, his thoughts on his new objective '_This is just the start, from now on Hamato Michelangelo has two goals: to protect the ones that he loves, and to become the greatest ninja of the modern age.'_

**A/N:**

**This is an idea that I've been stewing on for awhile but that involved it revolving around my own OC character, so instead I decided to take a different route and make Alex a supporting character to the real main character: Michelangelo. After all, he has the most potential out of all of the turtles. Unfortunately I'd lost my drive for this story and had run out of ideas, but rather than give it up again, I decided to revamp this story but do it another way, starting with making my male OC a female instead, and pairing her with Mikey. After all, this isn't the first TMNT fic that shows an OC paired with one of the turtles. I Meet the Turtles did it with Leo, You Were So Real did it with Donnie, and now I'm doing A Hero in a Half Shell with the main protagonist, Michelangelo.**

**In case you didn't figure it out, Kayla's uncle is Jack Kurtzman, the journalist who's been spying on the Kraang in seasons 2 and 3, and later the benefactor of the Mighty Mutanimals.**

**The Kama weapons that Mikey starts using are based on the ones that he got in the season 3 episode Vision Quest, I thought it would be cool if he had something like that too, because they're cool and because they give a little bit of variety.**


	2. Invasion of the Squirrelanoids

The night was calm over the skies of New York.

Kayla stood looking over the city with a device in her hand '_Now all I have to do is wait for him to show and then we're good.'_

"I got your message."

Kayla looked back and found Mikey standing behind her "So you actually trusted me enough to come."

"With all the Mutagen canisters still out there it's not like I have much of a choice, Donnie is still working on upgrading his so that he can track down all of the canisters and manage to zero in on a single reading."

"Lucky for me I solved that problem a while ago, I took my time building my Mutagen Tracker ever since the Technodrome incident."

"Cool. So what's with the Alienoid comic book tucked into your back pocket?"

"That's just in case I get bored."

"Huh. Nice. So did you actually find one of the canisters?"

"Not exactly, my Muta-Specs, working on the name, picked up a trail of Mutagen soaked footprints near the old movie theater. Let's move." and so they did, making their way discretely down the block to the old movie theater in question, only for Kayla to end up stepping on a bag of popcorn "Oops."

"Some ninja."

"Hey you're a ninja but I'm not, I'm a scientist. One requires brains, the other requires a ski mask- Hold on, I think I found it." he picked up a nearby Mutagen canister "Well it's half empty but it's all we've got to go on."

"Better than nothing I guess." this was followed by a scream "For the record that was not me dude."

"I know that, it's coming from inside." they wandered their way inside and found an old homeless guy being harassed by… a squirrel.

"...Is this for real? Why the heck would that dude be afraid of a squirrel? I mean cats I get but squirrels are harmless." this was followed by the squirrel shooting its tongue out like a bullet, revealing itself to be a mutant.

"Mutant squirrels, okay that's terrifying but it's also pretty cool." and that was followed by the mutant squirrel forcing its way into the homeless guy's mouth, causing him to pass out.

"So now is it okay to scream in horror?"

"Just do what I do and scream into a jar." she pulled out a jar and handed it to Mikey "Go ahead and grab it, just don't touch it with your mouth."

"Thanks." so Mikey screamed into the jar "Wow that does work. So what do we do with this guy? I mean it's not like I can bring some total stranger to our my family's secret hidden lair or they'll throw a fit."

"No I've got a better idea, we'll take him back to my place so I can look at him in my lab, I mean granted it's in my basement but it's the best we've got. Even if it is how the Alienoids got onto the ship in the comic book."

"I know about that, I've got like every issue back home but I can think of a bunch of other reasons why you bringing this guy, and more importantly me, back home with you is a really bad idea. Even if the squirrel is a mutant and it is my fault, letting your mom see me is a really dangerous move."

"Hold that thought for a second, I've got a text." Kayla pulled out her phone "It's my mom. _Just got through with my last patient, when you get home tell the giant turtle with the orange mask and the nunchucks that I wanna have a word with him. _Yeah I don't think we have to worry about that."

"...Wow that's just unnerving, and I thought Master Splinter was good."

"Tell me about it."

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It wasn't long before they arrived.

Kayla led Mikey through a dark underground tunnel "Lucky for me I've got a secret passageway into my lab through the cellar that connects to the sewers, that's actually where I find a good portion of the Kraang tech that I reverse engineer into weapons and stuff."

"So does your mom know about this passage?" asked Mikey.

"I never bothered to tell her about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if she managed to find it herself at some point while I was gone." they reached a large metal door "We're here." he reached to open it, but it ended up being opened from the inside "Yep she found it. Hey mom."

Sure enough, before them stood a beautiful woman with long dark hair and light gray eyes clad in a light grey long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans. Her tone was flat "You didn't say anything about bringing guests. What's the story this time?"

"Mutant squirrel in the hobo's gut, gotta find a way to get it out and maybe use the squirrel to create some kind of Retro Mutagen."

"And the giant ninja turtle, which is actually less unnerving than most of the other things that you've brought home in the past month?"

"You already know the answer to that."

"I know, I just wanted to see how you'd react."

"Of course you did. Hey Mikey set him down on the table in the corner, I wanna run some tests on him while my mom interrogates you."

"Yeah sure thing." Mikey dragged the homeless guy inside and got a good look at the lab, seeing that it was a large open space with various forms of equipment, scrapped pieces of different forms of Kraang technology and other pieces of equipment, as well as various poster, a TV and even a small kitchen area, as in a microwave, a mini fridge, a sink and a counter "Wow, this place actually reminds me a lot of Donnie's lab now that I think about it."

"Yeah well, our basement is pretty big and I moved a lot of stuff down here from my room before, so I spend most of my time down here. Plus the mini fridge is awesome too."

"Huh. Nice." Mikey set the homeless guy down on a lab table in the middle of the room "So what do we do now?"

"What I do is run some tests on this guy, and as you can see from the stink eye she's giving you my mom wants to have a word with you upstairs."

"...Oh boy."

"Oh come on, I don't bite." Samantha beckoned him with her finger "My name is Samantha by the way."

"Good to know." and so he reluctantly followed her upstairs.

Now alone in the lab, Kayla got to work running tests on the homeless guy "Okay now that I've started recreating the first scene from that one Alienoid comic issue, I'd better run an internal scan." he checked out the scan in his computer "Yep it's still in there, and now it's got a little buddy. Yeah this gonna be a weird one, even for me."

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Meanwhile, upstairs…

Mikey found himself seated in front of Samantha on the couch in the living room and felt very uncomfortable "So… your daughter is messing with alien tech that people barely know anything about."

"Yeah well she's brought worse home before." Samantha told him dryly "Look you don't have to be so terrified around me, it's not like I'm gonna bite your head off or anything. I brought you up here to discuss a serious issue."

"Which is what exactly?"

"My daughter. Look Kaylahas always been a good kid but she usually comes off to everyone as, in a few simple words, a workaholic. She never really been one for making friends but she gets along with people pretty easily, though she does tend to get a little bit full of herself with some of her inventions combined with his martial arts skills. She's actually a 9th degree black belt in jujitsu, karate and kung fu, and she's the kind of young woman who would go to the ends of the Earth for the people that she cares about. She does have one weakness though."

"And what's that?"

"She's not very big on showing emotions, it's never been very much of an issue but ever since her father died in the Technodrome incident she's been locking herself in his lab for days at a time. I mean she's barely eating, she's not sleeping, last night was the first time she's been out of the house since the move to the city."

"She seemed so… unaffected by it."

"That's part of the problem. I had readied myself for this emotionally a long time ago because I knew that something like this was rather likely, and besides my husband died doing what he loved to do. He was helping people and saving lives. I know he would want us to be strong, but the problem here is that Kayla has been too strong. She's still not emotionally ready to handle this so she's been throwing himself into work, and the real problem is that she's as stubborn as her father was, so he won't talk to me or her uncle Jack about it."

"The journalist you mean."

"Right, but that's not the point. Kayla is too stubborn to really open up to anyone about it, she always does everything for everyone else whether it's helping me with my more challenging patients or helping her uncle with all of this Kraang stuff. She's done a lot for everyone else, but right now she's the one who needs help, but she needs someone she's willing to open up to. The point I'm trying to make here is that right now what she needs is a friend to help her through this." she grabbed Mikey by the shoulders "So I'm asking you: Please, be that friend and do for my daughter what I couldn't."

Mikey gently removed her hands from his shoulders "There's no need for you to beg, I was going to do that anyway. But if it helps then I give you my word, I'll help her in any way I can and who knows? Maybe we'll get stronger together along the way."

"Thank you. So I was making some coffee, would you like some?"

"Sure why not, I've never really had any before. I could bring a cup down to Kayla too if you want."

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Kayla plugged a small device into her computer "Perfect, after 6 months of work I finally got the crazy to English translator down."

That was when the homeless guy suddenly bolted up "Pink eye, red eye! The ham went flying, woot woot!"

"And I also found the perfect chance to test it, good thing the squirrel in his gut knocked a few screws loose." she put a microphone up to the guy's face.

"Gimme a hootenanny…"

"_The squirrel licked some of that glowing ooze and transformed itself into a mutant, it's been chasing me for days now but I'm totally okay. _Yeah if by okay you mean totally and utterly out of your gourd."

That was when Mikey showed up with two cups in his hands "So does the crazy guy still have the squirrel in his gut?"

"Yep and the crazy to English translator is working about 90% or so."

"Cool. Coffee?"

"Thanks." she downed it in a few large gulps "I needed that. But at least you don't have to worry about this guy seeing you, after all it's not like anyone is gonna believe a crazy guy about a giant ninja turtle." this was met with the homeless guy gagging and squirming before he ended up puking up _two _mutant squirrels.

"Well that was awesome."

"And unprecedented, the squirrels replicate inside of a host body just like the alienoids do in the comics."

"Well not just like in the comics, I mean they'd have to explode out of the dude's butt."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't be able to put that on the internet."

"LEPRECHAUNS!" the homeless guy suddenly ran away screaming at the top of his lungs like a maniac.

"...Hey mom you mind showing him to the door? Thanks. Mikey we've gotta catch these little guys, they're emitting Dragon Ball levels of energy and that's insanely dangerous. Move slow and steady, and GRAB EM!" the two of them pounced, only for both of the squirrels to evade them and start running around and trashing the lab.

"I've got you you little freak!" Mikey made another grab, only for them to slip through his fingers and up the stairs as he and Kayla crashed into each other "Ow."

"I've got this." Kayla pressed a button on the wall "I just activated a force field around the house, nothing gets in and nothing gets out."

"You say that like you want them in here with us, and why would you have that sort of thing in here anyway?"

"You think this is the first time one of things I screw with in my lab has gotten loose? After years of this stuff I've learned to always be prepared. Anyway let's split up, I'll check out the bedrooms while you make sure the other one isn't in the living room and if my mom is on a call the don't disturb her."

"Right!" so they bolted up the stairs and went their separate ways.

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Kayla made her way into the bedrooms, or hers to be more specific "Wow mom wasn't kidding, I really do need to clean this place up more often." she pulled a slice of pizza out of an old box on the floor "Okay, now to use a week old slice of pizza to lure out a potentially radioactive mutant squirrel. Wow, my life is getting weirder by the second. Not that that's really saying much, I mean considering some of the other things I've brought home."

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Mikey slowly and stealthily made his way into the living room '_Okay like Kayla said, I can't disturb her or, or… Well I don't know what but I know it won't be good.'_

"I know you're up there." Samantha pointed out dryly without even bothering to look up from where she was sitting on the couch reading a book, which caused Mikey to freeze in place.

"...God it's like you know how to out ninja an actual ninja."

"Well I spent a few years in Japan studying ninjutsu, I mean granted I'm probably the most powerful being in this city at the moment, but I'm not a fighter like you or the other Turtles. I don't have the discipline to fight those battles, and frankly you don't need me to. Anyway the probably radioactive mutant squirrel is under the laundry basket in the corner." she pointed to where the mutant squirrel was trapped under a basked in the corner of the room "Whatever you're going to do just make sure you do it before they start glowing, that's when you know it's gonna be bad."

"...Yeah sure okay." and so he took off into another room.

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Kayla continued searching through the bedroom, though her mind began drifting "Week old french fries, bacon and sausage on thin crust. Not bad."

Then Mikey burst into the room "Have you found it yet?"

"Found what?"

"The- SQUIRREL!" he lunged for the squirrel in the book shelf.

"Oh. Right."

"I've got the little creep!" he lunged for it, only for it to climb along his shoulders and force its way into Mikey's mouth.

"Oh. That. Crap. To the lab!"

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Mikey found himself strapped down to a table in Kayla's lab "Oh god I can feel it, it's moving around inside my gut! I can feel it munching on that pizza that I ate! I'm freaking out man I'M FREAKING THE SHELL OUT!"

"Okay enough talking." Kayla put a hand over his mouth "Just cool it with with the Turtle speak, I need to hear what's going on inside your gut." she pulled out a comic book "Let's see, right now the mutant squirrel is probably secreting a mucus into the lining of your stomach so that when it multiplies-"

"DUDE!"

"I know I'm not helping, I'm just trying to be accurate."

"Get them out of me, get them out, get them out!" he received another hand over the mouth.

"It's just as bad as I had expected. I'm going to have to perform surgery on the spot." Kayla then grabbed a saw blade and started spinning it with a huge grin plastered across her face.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Kayla just started laughing as she threw the saw blade away "You know, it's nice to be able to lighten up a bad situation."

"Why you… you… you…" Mikey started gagging and eventually puked up not one, but two more mutant squirrels, which then promptly hissed at the two of them as the power went out, and then they started glowing "Oh man, you know some science stuff would be a really big help right about now!"

"Hey you're just as much of a fan of Alienoids as I am, you know damn well that glowing means that shit is about to hit the fan!"

That was when Samantha rushed down into the lab and noticed the glowing squirrels "Looks like it's happening in here too."

"These things are putting out Dragon Ball levels of energy, and now it's messing with my analyzer."

Mikey pulled his nose out of his comic book "Oh man we're doomed, we're doomed to bloody shell!"

"For now let's split up and search each room for them."

"Split up? Okay clearly me and Kayla are the only ones who bother to read comics, splitting up is always a bad idea in-"

"I do not want anymore comic book references out of either one of you two idiots until these things are gone, you got that?"

"No. I mean seriously, we're splitting up to search for multiplying squirrel creatures. How much more cliche can this get before we get eaten?"

"Well sure it could, I mean one of us could twist our ankle or our phones could die or we could lock ourselves in or-"

"That was a rhetorical question."

"And I gave you a rhetorical answer." and that was the end of that.

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It wasn't long before Kayla and Mikey bumped into each other while searching the upstairs and nearly screamed as a result "What the hell are you doing here? I told you I was gonna check the bedrooms!"

"Well… I thought you'd need backup." Mikey let out a nervous chuckle.

"Actually, I was worried that you would need backup."

"So we're both good then, but let's stick together and back the other one up just to be on the safe side."

"Agreed." then a hissing rang through the air.

"You know there was a sound just like that in the comic when the baby aliens turned into giant full fledged alienoids."

"...Oh sweet holy mother of god."

Mikey looked up and looked on in horror "Oh man, that is not good. They've turned into… into… SQUIRRELANOIDS!"

"So what do you think, run like hell while screaming like a bunch of idiots?"

"Yeah that works." and they both ran away screaming.

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It wasn't long before Mikey and Kayla were being chased down into the lab by the newly transformed Squirrelanoids "They're gonna suck out our brains!" and then the Squirrelanoids prepared to pounce.

That is, before Samantha appeared and batted them away, bo staff in hand "Stand back and watch boys, I've got this." she then proceeded to fend off all three squirrelanoids with ease, driving them down the underground tunnel "And stay the hell out of my house!"

"Oh crap." Kayla muttered "Not that we're not grateful mom, but that underground tunnel leads to the sewers, which aren't protected by the force field I set up around the house, so if those things get to the surface…"

"Then the two of you go stop them before that happens, I'll stay here to defend the house in case they double back."

"So just the two of us then?"

"Who among you wants to prove that you are the bravest? The strongest of wills? The worthiest of warriors?"

"Prove it to whom exactly?"

"...Just go now or you're ground. Oh and Michelangelo, tell Splinter I said hi."

"What do you-" Mikey didn't have time to speak before he was dragged away by Kayla into the tunnel…

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A few minutes later…

Before long, the search through the sewers had begun.

Kayla followed the Mutagen Tracker "They're still down here alright, there's no doubt about that."

"Hey just throwing this out there dude, but what the shell are we supposed to do when we find the Squirrelanoids anyway?"

"You know better than anyone that they're gonna find us. I'm picking up strong readings from both tunnels, we're gonna have to split up."

"Again? Didn't you and your mom get-"

"You got a better idea?" he received no reply "That's what I thought." and so he took off down one tunnel.

"Oh yeah sure, you get to take the tracking device with you."

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It wasn't long before Mikey found himself alone and scared "Okay think Mikey, how did they defeat the gigantic adult alienoids in the comic? First they started by picking off the crew in the dark one guy after another and started sucking off their faces until there was only one still left alive. You know maybe Raph was right, those things really are doing more harm than good for me. Except in this case." this was followed by a chirping noise "What the shell? They're getting closer."

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Kayla continued searching through the sewer tunnel with the tracker in her hands "Oh yeah they're close alright, no doubt about it." she held up the tracker "Above me. Alright freaks come on out, I know you're there!"

Sure enough, out of nowhere one of the Squirrelanoids tried to grab Kayla by the face and swoop her away.

Lucky for herself, Kayla was able to pull herself back down to the ground and barred his artificial cat claws "Heads or tails? You know what screw it, I'll hit them both!" she promptly burst forward, slugged the Squirrelanoid in the gut and drove her claws down into the tail, binding it on the spot "And stay down!"

That was when the other two Squirrelanoids showed up.

"And just like that, the universe loves bitch slapping me across the face." and so Kayla promptly retracted her claws and took off running until she crashed into Mikey "Ow."

"You got a plan to deal with these things?" asked Mikey.

"We could run and scream like in a bunch of idiots in the cartoons, but then again we did that already."

"...What's our other option?"

"We could go down fighting like a couple of badasses in a blaze of glory that no one will ever know about."

"That sounds way better." so with simultaneous battle cries the two of them charged forward at full speed.

Kayla quickly used her claws to cut open a valve, releasing a gas that left one of the squirrelanoids screeching and reeling in agony.

Mikey used both of his Kama blades to pin the second Squirrelanoid to a nearby wall and began repeatedly punching him, which didn't pan out well when the three squirrelanoids eventually managed to corner the two of them "Hey Kayla tell me something, you remember how that one surviving guy took down the alienoids?"

"Oh hell yeah, how could I forget? It was so awesome, he bated the alien into the air lock of the ship and then he-"

"Oh wait I got it! Wait here, I'll be back in a few!" and so Mikey grabbed his Kamas and suddenly bolted off.

"...And he just bailed on me, you know maybe he is the smart one." so Kayla once again barred the claws on her gloves and began fighting off the three Squirrelanoids at once, being pushed back towards the wall despite getting several good hits in.

"Hey three stooges!" that was when Mikey came back with a bag of popcorn "You guys want some of this? Well come and get it!" and so he took off, with the three squirrelanoids hot on his trail.

"Well what do you know, I guess the purple Turtle isn't the only smart one in their little cortet after all."

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Sure enough, Mikey was running into a room in the sewer that housed a septic tanks "You guys want this stuff? Well come and get it!" he threw the popcorn into the water and made his way towards the valve.

Just as the squirrelanoids dove in the septic tank was opened, and it looked like they were flushed down into it.

"And that's a big fat Booya… wait for it… kasha!" he made to leave, only to be grabbed from behind by the ankle with one of their tongues and pulled down into the septic tanks.

That is, before Kayla suddenly showed up and grabbed Mikey by the arm, forcing the squirrelanoid to let go as she pulled Mikey out of the water to safety "It's alright man, I've got you. You okay?"

"Yeah… Yeah I'm good."

"The septic tanks down below should hold those creeps for a good while, at least until I can create some kind of a Retro Mutagen to turn them back to normal. In the meantime I'm just glad you didn't get flushed."

"Oh trust me, I'm a lot more relieved than you."

"I'm just glad there's someone else that appreciates the underlying wisdom that comes with comic books, I mean I myself would never have thought to try and trap the Squirrelanoids using food as a bait. I guess it's just one of those things that are so obvious that they just hide in plain sight."

"Well no one can be the brains of the operation all the time. Hey so I was thinking, maybe it's time you meet my brothers and my sensei if we're gonna be doing this a lot."

"Makes sense, plus if they're gonna find out about me stalking them then it's best if I do it personally."

"True that. Oh yeah that reminds me, the guys were expecting me to bring back some pizza about an hour and a half ago."

"...Yeah let me grab my phone real quick."

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30 minutes passed.

Mikey made his way into the lair "Hey guys, sorry I'm late."

"Where the shell have you been?!" Raph almost exploded "You were supposed to be back hours ago!"

"Yeah, about that. I kinda brought a friend with me."

"What kind of friend exactly?" Leonardo's tone was filled with suspicion.

"That would be me." that was when Kayla stepped into the lair "So after all these months of researching and investigating I finally get to meet the famed Ninja Turtles who saved the world from the Kraang-"

"INTRUDER!" Raph charged forward and whipped out his sais and charged at Kayla at full speed, despite the protests of Mikey, Donnie and Leo.

Kayla grabbed Raph by the arms, her claws digging into his skin, then dealt him an uppercut kick to the jaw "You know I would bother to say that I don't want to fight you but I didn't think that would work."

"Get the shell off of me you -"

"What is going on here?" that was when Splinter showed up "Kayla."

"Master Splinter." she bowed to him in respect "It's been a few weeks hasn't it?"

"Indeed. My condolences about your father."

"He died doing what he loved, that's one of the best ways to go out."

"Wait a second, you never mentioned that you knew my sensei." Mikey pointed out.

"I didn't know it was gonna be him. My mom told you how she spent a few years studying ninjutsu in Japan didn't she? Well in that time she met Master Splinter here and the insanely pale yet insanely buff cheese grater- I mean Shredder."

"...Buff cheese grater? Oh shell I can't believe I never thought of that one!"

"Yeah, anyway he stopped by to visit after the Technodrome thing a few weeks ago while you and the others were making total assess out of yourselves."

"And you weren't freaked out by a giant rat showing up in your house?"

"No for two reasons: First of all, this is New York so you're bound to see stuff that you'd normally only find on an LSD trip. Second of all, I've brought home way worse. You don't want to know." he turned to the other turtles "I'm not asking you guys to trust me right away, and frankly I don't expect you to. All I'm asking for right now is for you to give me a chance to earn your trust, that's it."

Leo and the others shared a look and he sighed "Look we're not super inflexible like that or anything-"

"But you only just met me, I get it. I'm gonna take my time and earn your trust, and I'll do it my way. But that will have to wait until tomorrow, for now I have to head home and get to work on that retro-mutagen for the Squirrelanoids." and on that note, Kayla promptly took her leave of the lair.

"She's not wrong either." Mikey pulled out a comic book from who knows where "That comic we were talking about had a whole bunch of sequels that came out over the past few years, the aliens come back and it's all kinds of freaky."

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At the same time, a sewer worker was walking through the tunnels and came across a bag of popcorn, only to suddenly be grabbed from behind by one of the Squirrelanoids…

**A/N:**

**This chapter was the second episode of the season aired, I just wanted to use it to show a little bit about Kayla and her home life. His mother Samantha being better at sensing people than Splinter is just a joke that I came up with, mainly because of Casey Jones' mother in the 2003 series in the episode H.A.T.E. Plus I thought her and Kayla knowing Splinter beforehand would make it easier for me to advance this story.**

**Also, now that the other Turtles have met Kayla the next few chapters are gonna be about her gaining their trust, one turtle at a time with a few differences from canon episodes that I think could've been done better, and others I think will help the story overall. One example of this is combining a few filler episodes, and maybe shuffling around the order of some episodes.**

**Adding on to the point of Kayla earning the trust of the other turtles, mainly through a series of events of bonding with then the first one will be Leonardo in the next chapter.**


	3. Follow the Leader

The night was calm over New York City, and the Turtles, with Kayla in company were taking part in their new favorite pastime, that being hunting for the dozens of Mutagen canisters spread out over the city.

Mikey noticed that Donnie was still upset about April and tried to cheer him up "Hey come on now Donnie, you can't stay upset about April forever. It's just like how she can't stay mad at us forever, she'll come around sooner or later."

Donnie let out a sigh "Yeah I guess you're right, thanks Mikey."

"Besides, chances are you're the only one who can cure her dad anyway." Kayla pointed out dryly "I mean granted I'm trying to create a Retro Mutagen myself, but who knows how long that's going to take."

"...Why are you here again?"

"A few reasons: I need to clear my head before I start school on Monday, I've got inventor's block, my Mutagen Tracker is more precise and my mom wanted me out of the house while she was going to visit some old friend of hers from before I was born, yada yada." she held up her own tracker "This thing says that the Mutagen canister is above us."

"Well that's not the only thing we found." Mikey poked his head out of a dumpster and held up a stuffed iguana with a hat "An iguana wearing a top hat, I mean throwing out something as awesome as this is just a waist!"

"Mikey that's super insensitive, that could be your distant cousin from another lifetime stuffed with sawdust and keeping him would be insanely disrespectful to the thing. Let me have it." and so Kayla then snatched it away "Now then, as for the canister…" she leapt up onto the rooftop, picked up the canister, and came back down "And that be how we do it in my family, be sure to take notes guys because this will be on the test.

"So how many does that bring us up to?" asked Leo.

"Counting the ones that I've already found during the day and while you guys are busy training with Splinter, that's 4 ½." this was met with groans "But now that that's taken care of, we've only got 31 more to go." he pulled down his mask, one that had a black dragon mark across the front of it.

"Why the mask exactly?" asked Raph.

"You mean aside from the fact that I know how to work this shit? It's kickass and it hides my identity, the last thing I need is the Kraang finding out who I am and tracing me back to my mom or my Uncle Jack."

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At the same time, Karai was watching the group from afar, but didn't see Kayla without her mask on "So it looks like the Turtles have a new ally and they're all hunting for the missing supply of Mutagen canisters. This makes the game so much more interesting." she sliced through a piece of solid concrete with her Tegaki and started to walk away.

At the same time, Xever and Bradford stood in front of the doorway to Shredder's throne room waiting for a certain someone "So how good is this chica that Shredder is expecting to see anyway?"

"She's one of the best, if not the best." Bradford told him "She spent only a few years studying in the ways of the ninja clan as Hamato Yoshi and Master Shredder, but she had a natural raw talent for it to the point that she could fight off both of them at once and come out on top, although not unscathed. The three of them fighting together were near unbeatable and they were inseparable, but after she returned to America it just fell apart, when Hamato Yoshi betrayed Master Shredder as you know already. Let me put it to you this way, she's as skilled as Master Shredder and possibly even more intimidating only she chooses not to use her skills. Apparently in her eyes it was always a matter of her own principles." this was followed by a loud thud coming from outside the door.

"What was that?"

"My guess is that would be her."

Sure enough, the door opened and out stepped Samantha dressed in a white kimono with the Hamato clan symbol on the back, her eyes blazing "I'm going to say this once, leave now and I won't have to hurt you."

"Oh, is that right? Like you could chica!" Xever charged at her.

Samantha dodged every kick with ease and dealt him and Bradford a double kick to each chest, sending them both crashing into the windows "You were saying?"

"You little-"

"Enough!" that was when the Shredder revealed himself to them "Bradford, Xever. Leave us, now." they made no arguments and left, leaving the two of them alone "Samantha, it has been a long time."

"17 years if I remember correctly, and I do. You've really let yourself go Saki, vengeance doesn't suit you."

"And what of you my dear friend? You could have had a place by my side in the Foot Clan, and yet you insisted on a life away from ninjitsu, wasting your potential. You turned out to be such a disappointment."

"I was a different woman 17 years ago, the same with you and Yoshi. He had everything he could ever want, a family of his own. I left because I wasn't content with a life filled with fighting and war between the two clans. You were consumed by your anger, your jealousy, your hatred, and now you are forever scarred both in body and in mind. You don't have the strength to face the truth about yourself and now you take it out on Yoshi and his disciples, and now you have become this: a shell of the man you once were, forced to wear a mask to hide whatever shreds of your humanity you still have left."

"It is because of Hamato Yoshi that I wear this mask, you would be wise not to push me any further Samantha."

"Is it because of him or is that just one of the things that you blame him for because your spirit is too weak for you to be able to handle it yourself? All these years you continue to deceive yourself and everyone around you. But I think that's enough of me calling you out on your crap, I'm here to give you a serious warning Saki." her gaze hardened "I'm not going to interfere in your petty grudge against Yoshi anymore than I have to because it's not my place to, but I will say this. I didn't say anything when your ninja did nothing to stop the Kraang from killing my husband because I knew it would just cause Kayla to force his way into your feud, and I want to give her as normal of a life as possible, but let me say this. My daughter will probably find a way to force her way into this feud whether she knows the truth or not, if anything happens to her because of your actions then I will not hesitate to hunt you down like a dog and put you down once and for all. You would be wise not to forget this Saki." and with that, she took her leave, leaving Shredder alone and fuming.

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The next night came, and things were boring.

Mikey let out a sigh as he hung himself upside down on a neary billboard "We've been looking for those Mutagen canisters for days now guys, if we don't get some action soon then I'm gonna start screaming. Don't make me do it."

"Give it a rest, we get it." Leo told him "For now let's take a little break from the Mutagen hunt and do something fun." this was met with various cheers "Training session!" this was met with various groans groans "Hey come on don't give me that guys, Master Splinter wants me to train you and that's what I'm going to do." he pointed to the Chinatown gate "You see Dragon Gate over there? I'm going to defend it like King of the Mountain okay? Now then, the only way that you can get past me is to use traditional close quarters combat styles okay?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say fearless leader." Raphael grumbled "I say we just go ahead and get this over with."

"Fine then." so Leo leapt across the street and took a position on the string of lanterns in front of the gate.

Raphael on the other hand pulled Donnie and Mikey aside "Guys hang on a second, I think I have an idea." he whispered it to them.

Leo took a position on the other side of the string of lanterns "Alright guys you ready? Come at me, Mikey you're first."

"On it." so Mikey pulled out a pair of nunchucks in one hand and his kama blades in the other, only to receive looks from the others "What? You guys have you way of doing things and I have mine, now quit gawking and let's do this!"

"Fine, now come at me!" Leo charged forward with his sword drawn.

'_Like sensei said, find the space between my thoughts.' _so without thinking, Mikey swiftly and gracefully dodged and countered every strike Leo swung at him and once he saw the opportunity he leapt through the air and landed on the other side on top of the gate "And that be how I do it now."

"Alright then nice work Mikey, I guess. Now you're up next Donnie, go ahead and show me what you've got."

"Oh you'd better believe I will." so as Donnie stepped up he pulled out a few shuriken, calculated some angles and through each one at different angles, hitting Leo from different side and distracting him.

"Oh come on Donnie, you've gotta be kidding me!" Leo was forced to fend them off, distracting him long enough to let Donnie pass him "What the-"

"Oh yeah, King of the Mountain baby!"

"Hey that's not fair, that wasn't a real fight! I told you only close quarters fighting!" he was ignored, so he just turned to Raphael "So what's your trick gonna be?"

"Tricks? What the hell are you guys talking about?" so instead he just threw one of his sais forward.

Leo batted it away with his sword "Hey, ninjas never throw their weapons!"

"And they also don't do this!" Raphael headbutted him, knocking him to the ground, and threw down his sword, which read Lame-O-Nardo "And that makes three."

This was when Leo finally reached his boiling point "Why do you guys always undermine my training?"

"Hey all you're trying to do is make us fight the exact same way that you fight but the whole point of the dragon gate is to make it any way that we can isn't it?" and so the three of them left, leaving Leo alone to find _Lame-o-nardo _branded on the side of his sword.

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Later, back at the lair…

Leonardo later started complaining to Splinter about this "I don't know sensei, maybe I'm not cut out for all of this. I don't think the guys really respect me as a leader. I just… All I want is to be a good leader, you know?"

"Maybe that's the problem."

Leo looked back to see a clearly pissed off Kayla stumble her way into the dojo "Where have you been? Mikey tried calling you but he told us he hadn't seen you since last night. Where were you?"

"To put it bluntly, Canada."

"I thought Mikey said you were going to TCRI to scrounge up some more Kraang parts for one of your inventions."

"Yeah I was, but then I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke up I was in Vancouver! You never go to Vancouver unless it's for anime conventions! I hate the damn bus, nothing good EVER happens when you ride the bus in New York!"

"That comes off as a rather broad accusation." Splinter pointed out.

"Oh trust me guys, that's anything but! Last week on the bus this one guy spilled chili on me and then kept eating it off of my lap without a spoon!"

"...A valid counterpoint."

"Well at least going to Canada wasn't a total loss, I took out a Kraang base in Niagara Falls, I got a box of Tim Horton donuts to give my mom so she won't rip off my head for being in Canada for 2 days, and I bought some canadian bacon." he threw the bag to the side "Anyway, the problem here is that you're just trying to force your will on them and turn them into you. But they're not you, they're individuals."

"So what then, you're saying that I shouldn't be leading the team?" asked Leo.

"Not with an attitude like that, but aside from that I've noticed that you've been pushing them pretty hard lately." the two of them made their way out of the dojo and into the kitchen.

"It's part of my responsibility to train them to be worthy ninja but they refuse to show me any kind of respect as leader, and what's worse is that Mikey is the only one who takes me seriously lately."

"Yeah but if you push a door that's meant to be pulled and it's never gonna open, and you'll just end up making an ass out of yourself. You learned that from Master Splinter, and I learned that from my mother."

"Yes but I just wished that they listened like you and I do."

"But that's the problem, they're not us. We both learned that everyone is different, just like the weapons that they carry and the skills that they possess. Right now you, Raph and Donnie want the same thing for the two of them, for them to be the best that they can be. But the problem is that you don't agree on the path to get them there."

Leo stayed silent.

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At the same time Karai witnessed first hand the capabilities of the new robotic Foot Soldiers that could adapt to her every move, courtesy of a deal that Shredder had made with the Kraang in order to make up for the Mutagen incident.

Shredder then left for Japan to take care of some urgent business, leaving Karai in charge but warning her not to make any moves against the Turtles, and especially not against Samantha or risk her ire.

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Later, in the Shellraiser…

The tension was thick in the Shellraiser as the Turtles and Kayla went out searching for another canister of Mutagen.

Mikey tried to act as the peacekeeper amongst the team "Hey Leo you're not mad at us for what happened before are you? I mean keep in mind I stuck to you training style before."

"I know that Mikey, and I'm not mad." Leo told him "I just think that the rest of you need to do a better job of following my orders."

"Oh wow I feel so sorry for you." Raphael's tone was oozing with sarcasm "It's too bad I can't play a sad song for you on the world's smallest violin while I'm back here not driving."

"And what's your problem lately Raph, are you still jealous that I'm leading the team and you're not? Or is it the fact that Mikey talked me into letting Kayla drive the Shellraiser?"

"I still can't believe you went for that." Kayla piped up from where she was stationed behind the wheel of the Shellraiser "I mean I've never driven before, hell I don't even have a learner's permit."

"Wait, what was that?"

"It's New York, who needs to drive? Hey Mikey, how's it looking on my Mutagen Tracker right now?"

"That depends, what does the glowing light mean?" asked Mikey.

"Green means that there's a canister nearby, and blue means that there's a source of Mutagen nearby that's been tampered with or modified in some way."

"Oh. Clever."

"Better safe than sorry, am I right?"

"Well in that case, green light up ahead!" this prompted Kayla to slam on the brakes "Looks like it's just one though."

"Good enough for me." Kayla pulled down her dragon mask "So where is the signal coming from?"

"Down into that cellar door."

"Good enough for me." they reached the entrance to the basement "Word of warning, for all we know this might be a trap."

"Okay guys be cautious, let's not make any sudden moves before I give the-" Leo was cut off when they all just went inside "Signal. Bloody shell."

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Inside…

Kayla rounded a corner and noticed the Mutagen canister sitting in a room "Oh hells to the yeah, that be how we do it mother fuckers! Go ninja go ninja go! You know I feel like I've heard that song somewhere before." she reached to grab it.

"No wait don't!" Leo's cries went unheard and they ended up setting off a trap "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one!"

"Hey I'm not stupid I'm reckless, there's a huge difference."

"No there isn't! If you guys had just listened to me-"

"Easier than I thought that would be."

Leo whipped around and found Karai holding a sword pointed at them "Karai!"

"Sup Leo, been a long time hasn't it?" she had her Foot Bots surround them.

"...Oh boy."

"You know your lady friend is actually not too shabby when it comes to setting up some hardcore ambushes." Kayla promptly barred her claws in preparation.

"Really, you're doing that now?"

"Hey man they're just Foot thugs, we won't even break a sweat. Now then Turtles, leave no ass unkicked!" and so they five of them charged forward, fighting them off with ease, only for them to suddenly adapt.

Mikey was the first to notice something off with the new Foot Bots "This is wrong, these guys aren't supposed to be this good." his Kama blade and nunchuk were knocked out out of his hand and he was set crashing into Kayla "Ow… Okay, that's new."

Realizing the new circumstances, Leo made a call "Everybody fall back, we'll get out through the elevator shaft!"

"Screw that, there's no way I'm running away!" Raph barked.

"It's not running, it's called a tactical retreat now move!"

"I don't care what you say Leo, I'm not running from the Foot!" so Raph charged at the Foot Bots, only to easily get beaten down in a matter of seconds.

"Is that a good enough reason for you?" asked Kayla.

"...Shut up."

"That's what I thought, now shut up, follow your leader, and GO!" and so they all took off up the elevator shafts, with the Foot Bots following them

Mikey suddenly found himself being dragged down by two Foot Bots clinging to him "What the shell? Get off of me you bug eyed creeps!"

"Hang on Mikey!" Kayla and Leo both dropped down and kicked the Foot Bots off of him, sending them crashing to the ground and smashing to pieces.

"What the hell, those guys are robots?"

"You didn't know they were robots?" asked Kayla "I figured the constant Kraang droid noises and the glowing red eyes meant they were either robots or they were on LSD, I mean I've done my fair share of experimenting with both but-"

"No one needs to know about that, now move your shells and Kayla, move your thing that isn't a shell!" Leo barked.

Kayla threw Donnie and Mikey up the elevator shaft and was about to the same for Leo, only to notice that he was being pulled back down by a number of Foot Bots "Hang on man, I'm coming!" and so she dove back down just as the cable snapped and Leo fell back into the abyss, and they both disappeared.

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With no other options, the three remaining Turtles returned to their lair.

Mikey slammed his fist into the ground "They're gone and it's all my fault, again! Now what am I gonna tell Master Splinter?"

"Tell me about what Michelangelo?" that was when Splinter came out.

"It's Leo and Kayla sensei, they got captured by Karai and an army of Foot Bots."

"...I knew it was going to come to this one way or another eventually."

"Come to what sensei?"

"Karai holds within her a desire for vengeance almost as strong as that of the Shredder, she believes that I was responsible for her losing one of her loved ones."

"But it's not true though, just another lie the Shredder told right?"

"It is very much… the opposite of what she believes. But what is important right now is for the three of you to find Leonardo and Kayla and rescue them."

"We will, but we'll do it Leo's way. The way that he wanted us to fight and to follow his orders without screwing around."

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Meanwhile, with our captives…

Karai looked up at Leo and Kayla being held in cages inside Shredder's dojo "You know I bet I could make a fortune on some level if I sold you to a science lab Leo. Could you just imagine the press? Talking ninja turtle found in sewer."

"Delivered by the daughter of a bloodthirsty master of ninjutsu who also happens to run a world wide crime organization." Kayla pointed out dryly.

"Not like you have any room to argue, look where I have you right now."

"Yeah I know, we're both captured and Leo here is totally humiliated. It's still not as bad as high school in New York."

"Leo deserves everything he's getting after the way he betrayed me last time, and you siding with him is more than enough reason for you to be here with him." she snapped her fingers and summoned a large group of Foot Bots into the room "Don't you just love it? My new robotic Foot Bots follow my orders to a t, no arguing and no prodding. They do whatever I want, it's cool isn't it?"

"Yeah for now, just wait until they evolve and try to drop a city out of the sky to destroy all life on Earth."

"...Did you seriously just reference Avengers: Age of Ultron?"

"Yep."

"Just checking."

"Oh yeah, super convenient." Leo's tone was oozing sarcasm.

"You know I've been teaching the Foot Bots all sorts of new skills, but now I'm turning their training over to some new teachers." she cut them both free and threw their weapons down in front of them "Foot Bots, de shell the Turtle and skin the other girl."

"Oh man!" Leo cut down a Foot Bot with one of his katanas and pushed Kayla out of the way so that she wouldn't be hit by a volley of shuriken "You okay?"

"As much as I can be, thanks for the save." Kayla promptly barred her cat claws and blitzed through 5 Foot Bots in a matter of seconds "I added homing feature to it."

"Not bad." Leo cut down 2 Foot Bots of his own, only for the rest of them to quickly adapt and pin the two of them to the ground.

Karai looked down on the two of them with a cocky smirk "You spend years learning a fighting style and my robots learn it in seconds from the two of you. Fighting just improves their skills more and more." her expression turned solemn yet angered "You know I never got to know my mother because your rodent master took her away from me."

"Splinter? No that's a lie!"

"...Foot Bots get him out of my sight."

"Karai please just listen to me, Splinter would never do something like that!" and yet he was ignored as the Foot Bots dragged him away.

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Meanwhile, in the lair…

Donnie quickly pulled up some footage on his computer "Okay so I was able to hack into some security footage and I found Karai's van."

"Looks like they took Leo and Kayla to the Bradford Dojo." Mikey noted "Alright let's get moving, I know a shortcut."

"Hang on a second, who the shell made you leader? I'm smarter than both of you two put together so-"

"We're not arguing about this Donnie, you think way too much and Raph doesn't think at all so I'm leading you two. We're going to save our brother and my friend and this time we're going to do it the way Leo wanted to, by fighting the way he wanted us to fight."

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It wasn't long before the team had reached the roof of the Bradford dojo.

"We can't sneak in, they've got security cameras all over the place." Donnie pointed out "We can't sneak past them."

"No sweat, I prepared something special for just the occasion." Raphael pulled a pigeon out of his shell.

"Where were you keeping that thing exactly?" asked Mikey.

"You don't want to know."

"...Putting that disturbing thought aside it's not just one." Donnie told him "The entire roof is being bracketed by surveillance."

"Oh yeah I looked into that one too." Mikey pulled out what looked like a gun and fired it at a random spot, spouting out bread crumbs everywhere "Kayla was right, this thing really is a multi purpose tool isn't it?"

"Multi purpose?"

"Summoning pigeons and as a snack gun." this was followed by a large army of pigeons blocking out the cameras, allowing them to sneak inside.

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Mikey looked down and noticed Leo tied up with duct tape over his mouth "Guys check it out, I found him!" he leapt down and took out the two Foot Bots with ease despite Leo's muffled screaming, with Raph and Donnie checking out the area as Mikey himself untied Leo "Take it easy bro, I can't understand what you're saying." he ripped off the duct tape "What's the problem bro?"

"It's a trap!" Leo blurted out "Also, OW!"

"...Oh. Well then that's my B in this situation."

That was when Karai revealed herself "Oh you've got way more than just one B in this whole situation."

"Like you're one to talk Karai, now I'm giving you two choices: Give us Kayla back and let us go, or we take you down and force our way out."

"Sorry Michelangelo but that's not going to happen, it's not really that personal with the rest of you Turtles but I still need the four of you as bait. As for that girl in the mask, he broke out of here about 10 minutes ago."

"...You want Master Splinter don't you?"

"Your sensei will eventually track you here and when he shows up I'll make sure that Splinter knows what it's like to truly suffer a pain worse than hell. Restrain them." she sent her Foot Bots forward.

"Now let's smash some Foot Bots!" the four Turtles charged into the fray and began beating back the Foot Bots, only for them to quickly begin adapting to their fighting styles.

"Yeah they're only about a thousand times better than regular Foot soldiers." Donnie pointed out dryly.

"Yeah I kinda figured that out."

Karai leaned back in her chair and smirked "My Foot Bots know your every move, every skill and every attack."

"Yeah well I bet they don't know this chica!" that was when Kayla dropped down onto the scene and used fired a volley of detachable claws from her gloves, wiping out a few Foot Bots in the process "Sorry I took so long to get back you guys, I had to take care of some girl stuff, and I have no intention of telling you what that means."

"Didn't really need to know that." Leo pointed out dryly "So if I order all of you to run away then will you guys listen this time?"

"Hey if you want we can still call it a tactical retreat, either that or we can just shut the f*ck up and move."

"Works for me, now MOVE!" and so the five of them took off out through the roof of the dojo.

"Foot Bots hunt them down!" Karai barked "Don't let the get away!"

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Mikey and the others were racing across the rooftops of New York "All of our moves are useless against those things!"

"They know every move that I can make." Leo told him "They adapted to every fighting style I know, every skill, every- Wait a sec."

"You thinking what I'm thinking, as in King of the Mountain?"

"You got that right." they reached the park with the robots hot on their heels, to which Leo threw one of his swords into the air and another at one of the robots "You get it guys? Do something like that!"

Donnie was the first one to realize what he was saying "I yeah I get it, you're telling us to be unpredictable and do our own thing in order to throw them off." so he fired off a volley of kunai at a number of different angles and took out a large number of Foot Bots "You didn't see that one coming now did you?"

"You got that right smart one!" Kayla barred her claws and Tegaki and started taking out one Foot Bot after another, with Raphael shredding a few of them with his sais as Kayla herself then took to the roof tops in order to gain more ground against the Foot Bots.

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Mikey and Leo took to the rooftops to finish off the Foot Bots that went after them "I've never had so much fun following your orders."

"Looks like that makes us even, I've never had so much fun giving orders." Leo cut down another Foot Bot as more started climbing up the side of the building "You ready for this one little brother?"

"You bet I am."

"And so am I."

"Actually you're not." Kayla poked her head up over the wall and cut down a number of Foot Bots with her claws "The big chica is on her way over here, I'll deal with the hunks of junk while you guys deal with her." and she leapt back down the wall.

"Alright Mikey, Karai is on her way to fight us so let's-"

"No." Mikey suddenly cut him off "Leo I know this might come off as selfish but… I want to fight her by myself."

"What? Mikey that's insane, I can't let you just-"

"I know, but I have to do this. When I promised myself I was gonna do things differently, that meant I have to get stronger and do certain things on my own. This is a bridge that I need to cross right now and cross alone, no matter how dangerous it may be. If I can't work my way to the other side, then not only will I never be a true ninja, but I'll be just some insane kid. So I'm asking you as my brother to please, let me do this."

"Mikey… Alright I'll give you this chance, but if it looks like you're gonna lose then I'm jumping in." and so he dove back down to join the struggle with the Foot Bots.

'_Now to wait until she comes for me.'_

"You're going down!" Karai charged at Mikey at full speed, her relentless sword attacks pushing him to the edge of the roof "You might as well give up now, you don't have a chance of winning this fight! The more you fight those Foot Bots the more they adapt to your moves."

"Yeah your robots may know my moves but that's the thing Karai, you don't!" Mikey threw one of his pairs of nunchucks at her.

Karai batted it away with her sword "You really are the stupid one Michelangelo, a ninja never throws away their weapon!"

"That's the point!" Mikey threw away his other pair of nunchucks as he drew his Kama blades and began pushing Kara back towards the edge of a rooftop one inch at a time.

However, Karai saw through this and leapt down off of the roof and onto the top of the Dragon's Gate as she continued to fight off Mikey's attacks "Do you really believe you've won, that you of all people or Turtles have a chance of beating me or my Foot Bots?" she continued attacking him both with her sword and a tegaki claw, and she finished up by kicking Mikey's legs out from under him "And now you'll die!" she threw a volley of shuriken to knock his hand off.

Seizing the chance while her back was turned, Mikey burst up behind her and dealt her a sharp kick to the face, sending her crashing to the ground below.

Karai hit the pavement on the street with a loud thud "Great, I lost to the stupid one, How much more humiliating could this get?"

"I'll tell you how." Mikey held her own sword towards her face "I'm only going to say this once so listen and listen well. Shredder is lying to you, Splinter would never hurt an innocent no matter what the reason." he received no reply and so he went on "Whatever hatred you hold for him and whatever grudge you have against Leo, you can take out on me instead, but in the meantime I want you to stay away from my brothers, from my friends and from my sensei. You got that?"

Karai said nothing.

"You'd better believe me Karai, because next time I'm not going to hold back." and so he took off after the others, leaving Karai alone.

'_...Yep, it just got more humiliating.'_

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Kayla rushed up to Mikey on the rooftops "Hey man I saw the win against her, nice job and way to kick ass and all, but we've got a problem."

"The Foot Bots have learned all your moves?" Mikey guessed.

"Our wild sides have become normal, now I've gotta add some new anime levels of insane function to my Kraang sword and that can take weeks at a time. What now?"

"I'm thinking a tactical retreat."

"Works for me." Kayla threw down a smoke bomb, with Leo doing the same, allowing the five of them to get away.

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It wasn't long before the five of them were all resting back in the lair.

Kayla was quick to blitz through pinball like a pro "Yeah that's how we do it in my neck of the woods T-holes, Booya- wait for it- kasha! Booyakasha with a little twist of Barney Stinson! This be how I roll! Learn it, live it, love it and suck it! Alright, who wants to do the impossible and beat it?"

"Step aside chica, I've got this." Raph shoved him out of the way and started to try, and fail, to beat the new high score.

"Anyone else wanna watch him fail?"

"No you go ahead." Leo started to walk off, but held out his hand "Thanks for not bailing on me back there, I'm glad I have you as a friend now too."

"No need to mention it." Kayla accepted the hand "I told you before I'd take my time earning your trust and that's what I plan to do. But you should be giving credit to Mikey, he's the only who took down Karai all on his own."

"He's really coming a long way." a brief pause.

"...You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yep."

"Grab Mikey too, he should be in on this."

"What about Raph and Donnie?"

"No, they're not ready for that yet."

"...Yeah you're right, come on."

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With their goals set, Mikey, Leo and Kayla all made their way into the dojo "We're sorry to bother you so late Master Splinter, but the three of us have to ask you a few questions if you don't mind. About Karai."

"It is late Michelangelo, these questions will have to wait for another time." Splinter didn't even bat an eye "And you should return home for the night Kayla, I can imagine Samantha will be concerned as to your whereabouts."

"Don't try to change the subject sensei, Karai said that you were responsible for killing her mother. Just please, tell us that's not true."

"My son… No it is not true, but the truth is… almost as difficult as such a lie."

"What could be more difficult than that? Please sensei tell us, trust us."

"...Very well." with a heavy sigh, Splinter turned to face the three of them "Karai… is my daughter, Miwa."

**A/N:**

**This is about as far as I got with the original Hero in a Half Shell fic, mainly because it's where I lost interest, but now I think I have a semi solid idea of what direction to take this story from here on out.**

**So yeah, now Kayla has earned Leo's trust and now the two of them, along with our main character Mikey, know the truth about Karai. Kayla claiming to have been in Canada was a reference to the iCarly episode iPromote Techfoots, Spencer's subplot to be more specific.**

**I said last chapter that Samantha was an old friend of Splinter so it shouldn't be a surprise that she knows the Shredder as well. I figured it would be interesting to see someone that even Shredder knows not to mess with, and it sort of expands on her range of knowledge and skill as to what she could've taught Kayla.**


	4. Mutagen Man Unleashed

A typical morning in the lair.

Mikey was staring at some newish cartoon on the TV, with Kayla just leaning back without giving a damn "Woah…"

"_Oh no, super bad times for all!"_

"_Does great danger arrive? Where?"_

"_Kill beast bots from planet seven are here with steely resolve! Captain Coolster what are we going to do?" _and cue the smack across the face.

"_Get ahold of yourself man!"_

"_Don't worry squeakums with might super robo mecha!"_

"_Team! Combine in teamwork mode!" _and cue the giant robot "_Super!"_

"_Robo!"_

"_Mecha!"_

"_Force!"_

"_Five!"_

"_Team!"_

"_FIVE! GO!"_

Mikey had hearts in his eyes "This show is the greatest thing I've ever seen, what's it called again?"

"Mighty Super Robo Mecha Force 5 Team 5." Kayla didn't even bother looking up from where she was looking at her phone "They're just some old tapes that I had lying around from when I was a kid, looking back this show is god awful."

"Then why are you giving them to me?"

"Because you'd probably just go looking through the trash and end up finding them anyway, I'm stuck in a rut in terms of finding a Retro Mutagen, I've got school in like 4 hours and I can't sleep, need I go on?"

"No, please don't." Donnie poked his head out of the lab "Their lips don't even match what they're saying."

"You ever heard of anime?"

"Regardless, I could never watch a show this bad." and yet he spent the next 20 minutes with his eyes glued to the TV "So you're telling me that she's the princess of an entire planet? That is so cool!"

"Yep, and she also pilots the left leg of their giant robot." Mikey pointed out "Why don't we have a giant robot for all of us to pilot too?"

"I'm still working on that." Kayla told him "But anyway the scientist dude is the one who made the robot."

Donnie was still entranced by the show "The story has such an intricate and layered plot, I give it four whole stars!"

"_E-Excuse me princes, I'd like to invite you for space dinner if you please yes?"_

"_What? I date a weakling like you? Not for 10,000 zarkon crystals!"_

"...I retract one of my stars."

"Because it reminds you of the O'Neil girl?" Kayla guessed.

"It does not, man this show is lame anyway. The plot makes like zero sense, no wonder you wanted to pawn these things off on Mikey. I'll be in the lab." and so he walked off towards his lab.

"And just like that it's my cue to play the hero."

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Donnie stared at a picture of him and April and began lamenting to himself "Oh please, what am I to April anyway? I'm a nerd, no I'm way worse than that. All of us here are total and complete freaks-" he paused when he finally realized his mistake "Sorry Timothy, I didn't mean to upset you or anything. I'm just really frustrated that's all." he dropped a few snacks into Timothy's ooze tank "Not like it matters either way, April blames us for her dad mutating into a gigantic bat. I mean granted it was our fault but it's not like we did it on purpose."

Timothy glared over at the picture of April, his eyes burning with hatred '_She hurt Donnie… She is the reason for his pain…'_

"I have to find an antidote, a retromutagen. Don't worry big guy, pretty soon you'll get to be human again along with April's dad and any other mutants out there. Now let's see how this one works." he tried experimenting with a small beaker, only for it to freeze solid "Frozen? Well that sucks, another batch lost."

"Might not be such a bad idea to keep that one around." Kayla made her way into the lab and picked up the frozen beaker of Mutagen "You never know when something like this might come in handy, and if you want I could show you my research on finding a cure."

"Thanks but no thanks, this is my responsibility not yours. I'm the one who promised to find a cure, so just let me do that."

"Suit yourself, the offer still stands if you change your mind. Anyway I've gotta get over to school, later." and so he took off.

"I don't need any help with this, I'm the one who made the promise to find a cure and I'm gonna do that if it's the last thing I do. And with any luck, maybe I'll be able to win April back." and so he walked off.

Once he was gone, Timothy took the chance to snatch up a nearby canister of Mutagen and devour it all in one single gulp '_She hurt Donnie… she must pay… Need Mutagen… need more power…'_

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It wasn't long before Kayla had made her way to school, her mind drifting "Alright Kayla this is it, a new start in a new school. Just try to put the craziness on hold for a few hours, don't think about alien brain robots that killed your dad, or robot ninjas running a criminal empire, or the fact that your only real friends is a talking ninja turtle-" she cut her thoughts short when she had to stop a hockey puck from hitting her in the back of the head by easily catching said puck with two fingers "Not too bad of a shot."

As it turns out, the guy who shot it was some gap tooth punk with a hockey stick and a smug grin on his face "Yeah well not too bad of a job stopping it either, you've got some pretty sick moves ponytail."

"I work out a lot."

"Same, only I'm on the hockey team. Name's Jones, Casey Jones."

"The name's Kurtzman, Kayla Kurtzman, probably the only girl in New York whose alliteration can rival that of Peter Parker or Wade Wilson. You've got a rich fantasy life don't you, I can tell by the look in your eyes."

"What are you psychic?"

"Nope, I'm just insanely good at reading people. Also, try and hit on me and I won't hesitate to knock out a few more teeth."

"Good to know, so you new around here?"

"Today's my first day, I moved out here from Long Island a few weeks ago after that whole Death Star thing. Mainly because… my dad was killed in it."

"Oh. Sorry to hear that."

"Don't worry about it, he was a cop so I knew it might happen eventually and he died doing what he loved- helping people. Anyway, my mom and I moved out here to be close to my uncle and get a fresh start."

"Huh. Cool. Well at least you're not intimidated by my supreme awesomeness which is more than I can say for the rest of these losers. Later then Ponytail." and so he took off, looking more and more like a jackass with every step.

"...That dude's got a really rich fantasy life."

"You think that's bad? I have to tutor him."

Kayla looked over to find a red headed girl in a ponytail standing a few feet away "You have my sympathy."

"I have a feeling I'll need it in order to survive him. The name's April, April O'Neil. Nice to meet you."

"...You too." her tone was rather stoic "Name's Kayla."

"So you're new to this school?"

"First day, I'm guessing you heard my conversation from the resident jackass?"

"Yeah, I'm… I'm really sorry about your dad."

"Like I said he died doing what he loved, my mom and I emotionally readied myself for that years ago. I locked myself in my lab mostly."

"You into science then?"

"More or less, I just let the ideas pop into my head and role with them. Plus my friend's brother is a genius too, but he doesn't know when to shut up."

"Yeah I… used to know someone like that. He and I don't really talk anymore."

"I know what you mean, they used to have this other friend of theirs, but she up and bailed on them about a few weeks ago. My friend, the youngest one his name is Mike, the poor guy blames himself."

"How come?"

"I don't know the details, but right now I just wanna take my time with that and earn his trust and the trust of his brothers too."

"...Huh. Well good for you then."

"Yeah. Well take care." and so she walked off.

'_I wonder, does he know about… No he couldn't… could he?'_

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Nightfall came, and the next training/ Mutagen search mission was well underway.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey hit the rooftop with a roll and stopped when he noticed an open box of pizza sitting in front of him "Seriously Kayla , you're gonna try and tempt me with pizza of all things? That's just cruel."

"Hey you wanted me to help out with training and so I am." Kayla poked her head out from behind a water tower "At least you were decent enough not to eat random pizza that you found on a roof anyway."

"Yeah well, don't think I'm not tempted. Say what you will about that sounding gross, but keep in mind I grew up in and live in a sewer in New York City."

"Fair enough. So where are the other two anyway? I thought you guys were all training together tonight."

"Apparently Leo and Raph went to check on a possible Mutagen canister up in Brooklyn, and they'll do their training on their own."

"And today's ninja training is?"

"Stealth attack stuff, misdirection and camoflage are the keys to this stuff."

"Distract your opponents and use the opportunity to hide yourself, not that hard to figure out when you think about it."

"Yeah well explaining it is one thing, but actually putting it to use is a whole other-" Mikey then looked around, only to see that Kayla and Donnie were nowhere in sight "You could at least say when we're starting." he looked down at a skateboard near his feet, then held one of his kama blades in the opposite direction, and he didn't even have to look to know who was there "Not bad but too obvious Kayla."

"Just making sure you're paying attention." Kayla retracted her claws "At least I didn't try and give you a shell wedgie, though the fact that I'm a girl would make that way uncomfortable."

"You have no idea how true that is." Mikey looked up to where Donnie was brooding on top of the water tower "Hey bro, you okay?"

"Yeah, I just…" Donnie let out a sigh "April is always studying in the park around this time of night. Would it seem weird for me to just show up?"

"Yes." was Kayla's blunt contribution.

"I mean I know she blames us for her dad mutating, but-" Donnie looked down and instantly froze at what he saw, but then quickly ducked.

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And now for what Donnie saw…

As it turns out, April was in the middle of a tutoring session with Casey, right underneath the noses of the others "Okay, so show me how you solve for X."

"Uh… you just dig right, cause x marks the spot." Casey gave a cocky grin, which failed to impress April.

"Have you ever even opened your book."

"Of course I have."

"It's still in the plastic."

"It's… a spare."

"Uh huh."

"Alright look, school just isn't my thing. When I graduate, I'm planning on becoming either a pro hockey player or an international bounty hunter."

"Those are quite the options."

"Who wants a normal life anyway, right? Wait hold still red, I think you've got some smudge on your face."

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It took Donnie about 10 seconds to come dangerously close to losing it when he saw the two of them down there "She's on a… date? I don't believe it, she's actually on a date with some punk human kid!"

"Epic fail on the hypothesis. She's tutorting him, and he's just a schmuck with a dangerously rich fantasy life." Kayla promptly pulled Donnie back away from the ledge "And for the record, if you just showing up out of nowhere was bad, imagine how bad it would be if you fell to the ground in front of them while she was with some other jackass. That gives off a major stalker vibe. I'm a girl too, I know these things. I just don't care about them."

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Later, back at the lair…

Donnie was now in the middle of a mix of venting to Timothy and working on one of his newest inventions "Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous! And they were swinging together, swinging! Can you believe it? She gave him _that _look too, like this!" he started batting his eyes like one would only see in a cartoon. Or a meme.

"Congratulations, you just unknowingly created a new meme." Kayla told him dryly "Does he even understand anything you're saying?"

"Of course he does, and he's a great listener! Why was April even human? Because he's a human, I'll bet that's why."

"That's definitely not why, none of you guys are human and I still hang out with you."

"You only like to hang with Mikey, and why are you even here?"

"Because he and theguys in the middle of binging Super Robo Mecha Force, and to be brutally honest that show makes me want to hurl."

"At least you understand science, that's more than the rest of them can say. Anyway hold that thought, I finally finished."

"With what?"

"See for yourself." Donnie attached a small box to Timothy's canister and plugged it in "So how does it work?"

"**Speaking… to you… Donnie…"**

"Yes, it works!" Donnie let out a triumphant laugh "Let's see April's new boyfrind design something like that!"

"Yeah I wouldn't count on that, I've actually met that guy and truth be told the jury is still out on whether or not he can even read." Kayla told him dryly.

"Oh yeah, she really knows how to pick them."

"She picked you before didn't she?"

"Well… not necessarily…"

"**Donnie… like April… but April… hurt Donnie…"**

"You're not exactly helping Timothy. Anyway I guess I'll just have to face it, she'll never want to be friends again."

"**April… friend?"**

"She was, but not anymore."

That was when Splinter got his attention from the doorway "Donatello my son, I would like to speak with you."

"Um, sure Master Splinter. Hey Kayla, you mind keeping Timothy company?"

"Got it." Kayla waved Donnie off and out of the room, then turned to Timothy "Okay listen, before you do whatever nefarious thing you want to do with that Mutagen, let me just fix your voice box so it doesn't sound like one of those earrape videos on YouTube."

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Meanwhile, in the dojo…

Splinter wasted no time in giving Donatello a crucial lesson "Today, I will be teaching you to enjoy falling down."

"What, why would I ever-" Donnie was promptly cut off and thrown to the ground "Ow!"

"Did you enjoy that my son?"

"No! Why would I enjoy that?" and so they did, hurling him to the ground multiple times over the next several minutes in very comical fashions "So, do you like it yet?"

"No sensei, not at all! Why would I like that?"

"I see, so then perhaps one cannot make someone like something."

"Of course not, there's not a single person who- Oh wait I get it, you're actually talking about me and April aren't you?"

"Honestly my son, for someone so intelligent, the obvious often deludes you."

"Intelligence comes in a lot of different forms." Kayla pointed out from her place in the doorway to the dojo "One form that he lacks, actually that all of you lack, is the key understanding of the complex mind of a woman, yours truly being a prime example."

"Duly noted."

"Also, I probably should pointed out that his pet, the pile of guts in a jar full of ooze, grew arms and legs from drinking Mutagen and just tried to burn a hole through my shoulder."

"What?!" Donnie made a beeline for the lab.

"Turns out he uses Mutagen to stabilize his form and increase his power, and he hits like a wrecking ball. Go figure."

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Meanwhile, with Timothy…

As it turns out, Timothy had quickly made his way to the surface in search of his objective, and this almost instantly terrified everyone that saw him "**Where… is… April O'Neil?! April must pay… for hurting Donnie!"**

"Hey you granola crunching hippie, stay the hell where you are!" that was when a few cops showed up on the scene "Get on your knees right now and put your hands on your… jar, or we're taking you down!"

"**Police… help find April!"**

"Stop where you are, whatever the hell you are!" they started beating on his canister with their batons, breaking the picture of April that Timothy had been carrying, enraging him further and causing him to melt their batons "**Stupid humans… hurt me?! Humans leave me alone! Me must find April! Make her pay!" **and then he promptly left, leaving the cops to figure out what the hell to tell dispatch.

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Meanwhile, back in the Lair…

Donnie looked at the gigantic hole in the wall that Timothy had left behind "Oh man, this is really bad."

"Yeah, a monkey could figure out that much." Kayla made her way back into the lab with an ice pack in hand "Try being on the receiving end of a punch from the big guy after going out of your way to fix his voice box, talk about ungrateful."

"What was wrong with his voice box?"

"It sounded like one of those earrape videos you find on YouTube."

"You guys talking about those earrape videos on the internet?" that was when Mikey and the others entered the lab "Woah, what the shell happened in here? Are you guys alright?"

"We're fine, but Timothy somehow escaped and I think he went after April."

"What, why?"

"There's no time, let's just get moving and I'll fill you in on the way."

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5 minutes later…

It didn't take long for Donnie and the others to reach the rooftops and start making a beeline as fast as they could "I didn't know it, but I think all of my April talk caused Timothy to go after her."

"You know you make it pretty hard to sympathize with you right now, considering you used a pile of guts and ooze in a jar as a makeshift diary." Kayla pointed out dryly.

"He's a good listener!"

"Hence the whole diary thing."

"Not helping!"

"She doesn't exactly try to help." Mikey pulled out his T phone and tried to call April to warn her about Timothy "So how dangerous is this thing?"

"Well he obviously doesn't know his own strength, he could end up hurting her, or himself, or really anyone."

"She still has her T phone turned off, there's no way we'd be able to trace off the signal and track her down."

"Actually she might still be at the park, on a date."

"...And you know this why and how?"

"Oh, well… I might have been following her while we were tracking Mutagen earlier."

"Well that's not creepy at all."

"Putting that aside, if they're not at the park then that means she's heading home." Leo pointed out "Donnie, you and I will take the park so Raph and Mikey will head to April's place."

"Correction, Mike and I will see if I can catch them on any of the routes in between." Kayla then grabbed Mikey by the arm and promptly sped off before any objections could be voiced, leaving the others to scatter, but then she looked down and noticed something '_Oh you've gotta be kidding me.'_

"What are we looking at?" asked Mikey.

"Take a look down there for yourself."

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What Kayla saw…

As it turns out, April and Casey were making their way back home literally 20 feet below where the others were once standing "Too bad we didn't get much studying done."

Casey let out a scoff "Is studying all you do? You have to learn to relax, cut loose a bit."

"Hey I cut loose, you have no idea the kinds of crazy things I do."

"What, you mean like being a science Olympian?"

"...You really like pushing buttons, don't you Jones? I bet you-"

"**APRIL!" **that was when Timothy made himself known and started advancing towards her in his rage.

'_Wait a second, isn't that Donnie's monster? Can't I go a month without some mutant attacking me out of the blue?'_

"Just get back and leave this to the pro." Casey held out an arm in front of her.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?"

"Whatever that thing is, it's pure evil and completely cool looking. Just hang back, I can handle this one sweetheart."

"Sweetheart?!"

"**YOU PUNK KID! You protect April?!"**

"I don't think it likes you."

"That makes us even." Casey threw April out of the way of Timothy charging at them while he promptly dug threw a nearby dumpster "Come on come on, give me something!"

"**PUNK KID!" **Timothy shoved Casey into the dumpster and rolled it down through the alleyway.

"Yes!" Casey burst out of the dumpster with a metal pipe and started using it to spike various pieces of trash at Timothy like it was a golf club "GOONGALA!" and then he promptly charged at Timothy, only to get smacked into a wall "Ow…"

"**Now I crush you!"**

That was when a tessen with the Hamato clan symbol hit Timothy on the head, courtesy of none other than April "Back off gruesome, leave him out of this." she started fighting him off.

Casey just watched April fighting him off from his place on the ground "Not bad, I'm liking what I see."

"Shut up Casey."

Timothy took a moment to regain his ground and promptly started pushing back against April's attacks "**April must pay, April must pay!"**

"Pay for what? You and I have never even looked each other in the eye before, and you're the one who attacked us you walking anatomy class!" so she and Casey promptly started double teaming Timothy, only for him to eventually melt Casey's metal pipe "Oh no."

Casey was more in awe than in fear "Acid hands? Holy crap, that's awesome!"

Timothy promptly punched both Casey and April away, knocking both of them to the ground with ease "**APRIL!" **he made a pounce at her, when…

"Get down red!" that was when Casey suddenly yanked her away as he made a beeline on his bike, with Timothy in hit pursuit "Good thing for last minute rescues, courtesy of the one and only Casey Jones!"

"So how fast can you pedal?" asked April.

"**No! Stop!" **Timothy chased after them and managed to close in on them within only a few seconds "**April will come back, April will pay for hurting Donnie!"**

"Hurting Donnie, what the heck is he talking about?"

"Don't know, don't care, let's see if the big guy can outrun this!" Casey promptly threw what was left of his crowbar at Timothy, knocking him to the ground and leaving him to get hit by a truck "Yeah, now that's what Casey Jones brings to the party!"

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Kayla let out a low whistle "Looks like Jones has more than just a rich fantasy life, turns out he's got some moves too."

"And why didn't we get involved exactly?" asked Mikey.

"Because you can't let someone like Jones see you, and frankly it looked to me like they had it covered."

"He's gonna crawl out of there you know."

"Yeah I know, that's why you're going to make sure Jones gets her home safe while I go down there and do damage control. Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling that if Raphael finds him first then he'll be less than willing to go easy on him."

"That's true, just be careful."

"I make no such promises." and so they split up.

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Timothy pulled himself out of the rubbble and back to his feet "**April hurt Donnie… April has to pay…"**

"Not so fast barrel full of ugly." that was when Raph found him "Looks like the two smart ones were right, Pulverizer has been drinking Mutagen."

"I could've told you that." Kayla dropped down next to him "Bottom line, we can't let him get to the O'Neil girl."

"**No, must find April! Must make her pay!"**

"Great, now he's gone from a superhero reject to a mindfucked supervillain. We might as well brand Mutagen Man on the side of his tank."

"Mutagen Man, I kind of like the sound of that." Raph commented.

"Mikey isn't the only one who can name shit."

"**SILENCE!" **Mutagen Man promptly hurled Kayla into a nearby dumpster and stomped a foot down on Raph, pinning him while he reached for him, mutagenic acid dripping from his hand in the process "**You hurt Donnie, now you pay!"**

"Raph get down!" Kayla burst out from within the dumpster and used her makeshift cat claws to cut off one of Mutagen Man's hands "Alright I'm done being nice, you try to melt a dude's face and that's where the line has to be drawn."

"No wait don't!" that was when Donnie and Leo showed up on the scene "Don't hurt him, it's not his fault!"

"No offense Donnie, but I think trying to melt a guy's face is crossing the line."

"He's just trying to help, all he wants is to make April our friend again."

"**No…" **Mutagen Man suddenly grew his missing hand back "**April not Donnie friend… She has to pay! She hurt Donnie… Now I hurt April!"**

"Wait what?! I thought you were trying to get April back for me! I mean us."

"We know what you meant." Kayla noted dryly.

"**April hurt Donnie… Other Turtles hurt Donnie… Only cat girl and orange turtle are nice to Donnie… Must destroy those who hurt Donnie!" **he prepared to do just that, but that was when his Mutagen ran out "**No… powering… down…" **and then he keeled over as his arms and legs shrivelled up.

"Looks like he ran out of Mutagen to suck on, so what do we do now?"

"We have to get him into the Shellraiser, quick!" Donnie told her.

"Got it, but I'm not touching his arms or legs."

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A few minutes later, inside the Shellraiser…

Raph wasn't keen on the thought of bringing Mutagen Man back to the lair "Refresh my memory real quick, why exactly are we bringing Mr Personality here back to the lair?"

"What he did wasn't his fault Raph, it was mine." Donnie told him "I guess all of my constant talking about April got into his head, I guess he just got the wrong idea. But what's even more important is that Timothy's DNA could be the key to creating a Retro-Mutagen."

"Yeah, we might be able to cure both April's dad and him if it wasn't for the fact that he's in the middle of guzzling down another canister right now." Kayla pointed to where Mutagen Man was drinking more Mutagen.

"...Oh that's definitely not good."

"Yeah, we should probably get him out of your makeshift RV."

"**APRIL MUST PAY!" **almost instantly, Mutagen Man broke out of the Shellraiser and started hunting his target again.

"So much for your living diary being out cold."

"We'd better split up and track him down." Leo told them.

"Why bother splitting up? We already know where he's headed, and Mikey is probably already there since he's making sure she got home safe." Kayla promptly dialed a number "New plan, the big guy is headed your way, make sure April's new boyfriend doesn't see you." she promptly hung up "You guys get the Shellraiser fixed, I'll head over and back Mikey up."

"Shouldn't you have backup?" asked Donnie.

"No, Mutagen Man likes you but hates the others, and I think the last thing we want is to get him worked up any more than we have to."

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Meanwhile, with the others…

Casey poked his head around a corner "Alright red, no sign of any hideous organ monsters in a jar."

"Good to know that it's safe to come to my own front door." April started making her way towards her door.

"So do all of your study sessions go like this?"

"You have no idea."

"Alright then, so when's our next date? You can tell me about that crazy metal fan you've been carrying with you."

"Date? Don't even think about getting that ahead of yourself Jones."

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Meanwhile, a short distance away…

As it turns out, Mutagen Man had been watching April from an alleyway "**April… I'm coming for…"**

"Yeah hold that thought." that was when Kayla and Mikey suddenly dropped down in front of him with cat claws and nunchuckls barred against him "And just do you think you're going handsome?"

"We've gotta keep him in the alley, we can't let April's boyfriend see me." Mikey told her.

"And we don't want to hurt him, which is why I didn't bring Raphael with me."

"Smart move."

"**Mutagen Man want to help Donnie… April must pay!" **Mutagen Man charged forward in a rage.

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April glanced back at Casey "So what do you think, another study session tomorrow night, as in one where we actually get some studying done?"

"That is a possibility." Casey shot her a smirk, unaware of Mikey keeping Mutagen Man chained with his nunchuckls but failing to stop him from pulling forward, leading Kayla to try and push him back into the alley, which didn't go unnoticed by April.

"Wait hold on a second."

"Yeah I knew it, is there something you want to say to me red?"

"Actually yeah, you don't want to go down that way because of… toxic fumes! Why don't you take this side street over here, you can get home faster."

"Whatever you say O'Neil, later." and so Casey took off on his bike, away from the hidden conflict in the nearby alley.

'_Okay, that was way too close.' _April looked into the alley and saw Mikey trying and failing to hold back Mutagen Man, and she scowled '_I should've figured they would have something to do with this. Just keep walking April, it's not your problem.'_

Mikey tightened the hold his nunchucks had on them "Easy big guy, we don't want to hurt you but we can't let you hurt April."

"**She hurt Donnie… She must pay!"**

"Yeah we get it, you're repeating the same thing over again like a Dallack." Kayla quickly attacked Mutagen Man with a spin kick that knocked him off his acidic feet "Though I hate to break it to you, this isn't Doctor Who!"

"**April is mine! Girl friend of Donnie… Girl treat Donnie well… So why girl stop me from hurting April who hurt Donnie?!"**

"Because I get it!" Kayla let out a sigh as she retracted her claws and gently placed a hand on the side of the tank "I know what you're feeling. You feel like Donnie is the only one in the world who understands the unspeakable amount of pain burning inside of you, or maybe he's the only one who actually cares enough to do anything about it to help you. And when they're in any kind of pain, you feel like you have to make their pain your own, and when you see the person responsible for that pain you take that pain and you twist it into rage, and then you just want to see the person responsible for it suffer a pain worse than hell. But no matter how much you may want them to suffer, you can't let it happen."

"**Why… not?"**

"Because it's not what they would want? I know what you're feeling big guy, but in all of your so called noble rage you've forgotten something really important."

"**What…?"**

"It's not about us, it's about them." Kayla pulled out a mirror to show Mutagen Man his reflection in it "What happened to you man? You were the Pulverizer, you wanted to be a hero like the turtles, not someone who's just out for revenge. Donnie still cares about April despite everything, and he wants to help her, just like he wants to help you."

"**What… I do…?"**

"It's alright, it's just the Mutagen trying to mess with your head, but you can fight it. You're not a monster or anything, you're Mutagen Man."

"**Mutagen Man… hero…?"**

"You can be, just stop for now."

Mutagen Man looked at where April was still watching the battle in secret, and he looked down in sadnesss "**What Mutagen Man do?"**

"The first thing to do is stabilize the Mutagen inside of you, I think I can do that but you'll have to come with me back to my lab." Kayla held out a hand to Mutagen Man, which he slowly but hesitantly accepted "Hey Mikey, tell the others that I brought Mutagen Man home with me, and I'm gonna do what I can to help him, so Donnie should concentrate as much of his efforts as he can on his Retro Mutagen."

Mikey looked between the two of them nervously "I don't know Kayla, are you sure that this is a good idea?"

"Mutagen normally has a warping effect on the mind, if I can stabilizie it and him, which should only take me a few weeks or so, then he just might be the perfect first candidate for a secret project I'm working on. Trust me on this, okay?"

"...Fine, but if he gets out of control then call me and I'll be right there."

"**You… smallest Turtle…" **Mutagen Man slowly turned to face Mikey "**Tell Donnie… I sorry for hurting him… I want do good…"**

"Come on big guy, we can't let anyone see you." Kayla motioned up to the roof, and with a quick wave to Mikey, she and Mutagen Man disappeared across the rooftops of New York City and into the night.

Mikey watched them go and let out a sigh '_Well it could've been worse, at least no one got hurt this time.'_

That was when Donnie and the others showed up in the Shellraiser "What happened, what did we miss, where's Timothy?"

"In order: We beat him and Kayla calmed him down, you missed a lot, and apparently she recruited him and took him back to her lab."

"Wait what?!"

"She said that you should focus on finding a Retromutagen while she focuses on trying to stabilize him. And Timothy said… he wanted me to tell you that he's sorry."

"...As long as he's in good hands." Donnie looked up into the night sky '_I'm sorry Timothy, I never meant to mislead you or hurt you. Don't worry my friend, I'll keep my promise. One day, I will find a cure and turn you back.'_

"Give it time D, if anyone can help him it's either you or Kayla. Come on, let's just go home for now."

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A few more days came and went, and things had died back down with the Turtles.

Donnie was in the middle of brooding while watching Super Robo Mecha Force 5 with the rest of the guys '_Okay fine, 3.5 stars.'_

"Yeah I can officially say it, school in the city sucks just as much as everywhere else." that was when Kayla made her way into the Lair and sat down next to Donnie.

"So how's Timothy doing?"

"It's gonna take me a few weeks to stabilizie his physical form so he doesn't need Mutagen to sustain himself, but his mind is coming along pretty well. He can speak full sentences now, so that's progress."

"Uh huh."

"He wanted me to tell you that he's sorry for hurting you, and he thanks you for everything you've done for him, and once he's ready he'll put what you taught him to use and end up being a better hero because of it."

"I see. That's good."

"In the meantime, how are you holding up?"

Donnie let out a sigh "I turned one of the few friends I actually have into a monster that wanted to squash the girl I'm totally into, how do you think I feel? For all I know, I'll probably never see her again."

"You made a mistake, she made the choice to take it the way that she did. If she's gonna come back, you have to let her come back at her own pace. If there's one thing I've learned from conducting dangerous experiments in a suburban basement since I was 10, it's that you can't rush progress."

"Yeah I know that, but what if she never does?"

"Don't focus on what ifs, focus on the here and now. You still have hope, don't you?"

Donnie looked over at the show and watched the princess kissing the nerdy hero in gratitude for saving her, and he gave a small smile "Yeah, I still have hope."

**A/N:**

**I redid a couple of things about this episode because I think it could've been done a lot better, and I borrowed some ideas from a couple of other fics revolving around this episode so if any of them have a problem with this chapter then I apologize for that. But anyway now Alex has earned Donatello's trust too so now that only leaves Raphael, and I have some major plans in that regard.**

**No, Mutagen Man isn't frozen in this fic. I always thought he had way too much potential for him to just appear in one episode and stay frozen for the rest of the series.**

**So now Kayla has earned the trust of both Leonardo and Donatello, and that leaves only one left: Raphael. I have a plan for that, and it involves a character who went from a villain to a reformed hero, only in this fic, he'll stay a hero all the way through from start to finish.**


	5. The Second Recruit

A quiet day in the Lair turned into one filled with excitement… for three of the four Turtles that is.

"No, no no no no!" Mikey could only look on in horror as the dice rolled a 9 "My +1 ring of awesome didn't save me! Avenge me my brothers, avenge the beloved elf!"

"Relax Mikey, your elf is fine, for now at least." Leo gave a smirk "But suddenly, your party is attacked by an army of vicious and evil monkey goblins!"

"Way to lure me into a false sense of security bro."

"That's the idea, anyway you have to roll a 2 or higher to avoid being bitten."

"On it." Donnie promptly rolled one of the dice "20."

"Mikey, you're up."

"On it." Mikey rolled another one of the dice "1, critical fail, you lose, other video game references."

"The monkey goblin bites, and Mikey loses 11 hit points!"

"11 hit points huh? Well then I guess I'll just have to use my magic sword +3 to strike and we'll go from there."

That was when Splinter made his way into the kitchen and pulled a cheesicle out of the freezer, and he glanced over at them "What is all of this?"

"It's a role playing game called Mazes & Mutants, Kayla gave it to us."

"A game? Don't you have Mutagen to find?"

"The tracker hasn't picked anything up in the past few days, and Samantha needed Kayla out of the house while she has a patient so she's working on a Retromutagen in Donnie's lab."

"Honestly, I do not understand why you play a fantasy game when your lives are already fantastic."

"We're just teenagers sensei, we need a break every now and then. Besides, if something does come up we can rush right out there."

"So be it." Splinter looked around cautiously "Something is not right here."

"Yeah I know what you mean, Raph hasn't exploded at any of us at all today."

"That is not what I was referring to, though that is actually rather concerning." so Splinter made his way back to the dojo.

"And speaking of Raph, I'm guessing in 3… 2… 1…"

"MIKEY!" that was when Raph stormed into the kitchen with his pet turtle Spike sitting on his shoulder "You were the one who got pizza stains all over my collection of Modern Ninja Magazine, weren't you?! They're ruined!"

"I don't know what made you think it was me, and besides Raph those things are like 20 years old already."

"I'll have you know that they're vintage, it took me 6 years to collect all of them! Six years dammit! I'm sick of you screwing up all of my stuff!"

"Hey lay off of him Raph, it's just stuff. Meager possessions." Leo waved him off "What does it matter anyway?"

"What about your precious comic book collection? You always stick up for Mikey, try seeing my point of view for once!"

"I get your point of view Raph, I just think that, like Master Splinter says, material possessions are fleeting."

"Don't give me any of that zen crap! I'm sick of the three of you, you're always screwing up and I have to pay for it!" and so he stormed out of the kitchen.

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Meanwhile, in the lab…

Kayla looked down at a beaker and just let out a grown "No wonder Donnie hasn't had any luck in finding a retromutagen, who the hell can concentrate with Raph exploding all the time?" she poured a liquid into the beaker, only to be met with a strange sound "Oh boy." she poked her head out of the lab door "Hey just a word of advice, get the hell down like your lives depend on it, because they might." this was followed by fireworks bursting out of the lab and exploding in different areas of the lair "See what I mean?"

"Oh yeah, Mikey really knows how to pick em doesn't he?" Raph ducked out of the way of one of the fireworks, only to see Spike sitting in the line of fire "SPIKE!"

"Hold on, I've got him!" Kayla leapt forward, grabbed onto Spike and pulled him out of the way before he could be hit and/or blown up "You okay little guy?" she was met with Spike nuzzling against her chest "Hey watch it, cute or not you keep your turtle paws off those. Well at least no one got hurt."

"Are you out of your freaking mind?!" Raph stormed up to Kayla and snatched Spike away from her.

"Oh I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"I didn't ask, and I don't care."

"You guys okay?" that was when Mikey and the others rushed out into the room "What the shell happened out here?"

"I'll tell you what happened Mikey, your little girlfriend almost blew us up just like Donnie does all the time, and what's worse is that she almost blew up Spike!"

"Hey FYI big guy, I saved him too." Kayla pointed out flatly.

"Don't think that makes up for it!" Raph stormed into the lab and came out with a canister filled with Mutagen "Until mad scientists 1 and 2 get their crap together, I'll be holding onto this for safe keeping."

"Raph hold on, be reasonable!" Donnie protested "It was just an accident, and that's my last canister of Mutagen!" he went ignored.

Kayla pulled off her goggles and let out a sigh "Sorry about that guys."

"Don't worry about it, I almost blow us up at least once a day. Raph just needs to cool off, that's all."

"Yeah well I'm still trying to earn your trust, I've done you and Leo already, he's the only one I've got left. The only question is, how the hell am I gonna earn his trust? You and Leo are both smart in different ways, and being totally blunt here, he's an impulsive meathead who thinks with his fists. That's more up my brother's alley."

"You have a brother?"

"He's in college at MIT."

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Meanwhile, in Raph's room…

Raph was in the middle of brooding to Spike as he set down the Mutagen canister "The others are just holding me back, we should be out there fighting crime and tracking Mutagen, but all they want to do is play some stupid games. At least you get it, don't you Spike?" he promptly patted Spike on the head and laid down on his bed "Sometimes I wish I was on my own, doing things my way. I'm sick of this team."

Then there was a knock on the door as Mikey poked his head into the room "Hey bro, are you still mad?"

"What do you want Mikey, don't you guys have a stupid role playing game to get to?"

"Actually, Master Splinter wants all of us to help clean up."

"What?! No way, not a chance, your girlfriend can clean up her own explosion!"

"She's not my girlfriend Raph, but if you want to tell sensei you're not helping out, then I say go ahead."

"Fine, I will!" Raph shoved past Mikey and slammed the door behind him, causing the Mutagen to leak out onto the floor, right in front of Spike's gaze…"

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Meanwhile, outside…

True to his word, Raph stormed up to Splinter in a rage "Sensei this is completely unfair, we're not the ones who made this mess, Mikey's girlfriend is!"

"Not his girlfriend." Kayla was ignored.

"So why the shell should we have to clean it up?!"

Splinter breathed a small sigh that went unnoticed "Allow me to make a sugggestion Raphael."

"Suggest what sensei? I'm sick of suggestions, what could you possibly suggest?" he was met with a pressure point strike to the chest that knocked him to the ground.

"Perhaps you should sit and meditate for awhile." he was met with groans from Raphael, which overshadowed the groans and choking noises coming from Raph's bedroom, which were then followed by an ominous growling noise.

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Meanwhile, in Shredder's lair…

Karai was sitting on Shredder's throne surrounded by Footbots, and watched as her only sentient henchmen, Dogpound and Fishface "Bradford, Xever, enter." this was followed by the door closing on Dogpound's tail, causing him to keel over and land in the water.

Xever let out a chuckle "Impressive, you downgraded from being a stealthy ninja to being an idiot man dog."

Dogpound let out a growl as he pulled himself out of the water "How I detest this clumsy body, what I wouldn't give to be human again!"

"Welcome to the club."

"In case you two weren't aware, I don't have all day." Karai pointed out dryly.

"Don't get too comfortable up there Karai, you know just as well as we do that Shredder is the only one worthy of that throne."

"Father put me in charge while he's in Japan, remember? So either learn some respect, or I chop off your robo legs and drop you in a sewer. Got it?"

"...Got it."

"Good. Now listen, I need someone to help maitain my Footbot soldiers on a daily basis, and for that I need someone whose loyalty can be bought, and someone who can be easily intimidated."

"So you want someone like Baxter Stockman."

"Stinkman?!" Dogpound let out a snarl "But that little creep tried to kill us! Why the hell should we-"

"Stockman is perfect." Karai promptly cut him off "Do you two freaks think you can handle this task?"

Xever shot her a smirk "Leave it to us… boss." and so he and Dogpound left.

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Cleanup was finished, but moral was pretty low, at least for one of them.

"Oh yeah, it's always me isn't it?" Raph stormed his way back into his room "I've always got the bad attitude, I'm always the bad guy, they just don't get it!"

"They actually do." a voice rasped.

"What the?" Raph whipped around and his jaw nearly dropped at what he saw.

"They understand you better than you think, they're part of your family obviously, just like how I am." out from under the bed crawled a large mutant turtle with blue skin and spikes all over his body "You know that, you just don't want to admit it."

"It… It can't be… Spike?"

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Meanwhile, in the living room…

Mikey dumped away the last of the trash and looked over to see Kayla brooding on the floor by herself "Hey Kayla, you alright? What's wrong?"

"What do you think?" Kayla let out a sigh "I'm trying to take my time and earn the trust of your brothers, but now one of them basically looks at me like I'm Naofumi from Rising of the Shield Hero."

"Hey come on, it's not your fault. Not all of it anyway. Raph just has to work on his insanely bad temper."

"Give him decaf."

"We tried that, it only made him angrier."

Kayla looked down at her Mutagen tracker "It doesn't look like that thing will be going off tonight, I might as well see what other parts I need to create a full on retromutagen."

"You want me to come with you?"

"No I think I can handle it myself, go ahead and enjoy your game."

"If you say so, but maybe try and apologize to Raph, see what that happens."

"Might as well."

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Raph was still in awe over Spike's sudden transformation "I can't believe this is happening, this is amazing! But what do I tell the others?"

"Tell them they've got a new member of the team." Spike told him flatly "One who knows the true meaning of being a warrior."

"A new member of the team?"

"And if they don't like it then we can just go you and me, no screwing around, no goofing off like the others. We can be the ultimate ninja team."

"Well that would be… awesome!"

"We can crush our opponents and grind them into the dust, we can wipe evil from the face of this city, until there's nothing left."

"Now that's what I'm talking about! You totally get it, you always did."

"Hey Raph, you got a second?" Kayla knocked on the door to his room.

"Oh crap, it's her. Alright man, just sit tight for a second." Raph cracked the door open but only slightly "What do you want?"

"Look I just… I wanted to apologize for what happened, I should've been more careful."

"Uh… Forget it, it's not important. Plus you did save Spike from getting blasted, so… I guess we're cool."

"You know I am trying to earn the trust of you and the others, if you'll give me a chance."

"I know I know, I'm not mad anymore okay?"

"Good, anyway since the guys are preparing to start LARPing, I was gonna head out and gather some supplies to synthesize a retromutagen. You wanna come with?"

"Uh yeah sure, just give me a minute."

"Fine, but first I really need back that retromutagen you-" she opened the door all the way and saw Spike in all of his mutated glory, along with the broken canister on the floor "Let me take a wild guess, your little buddy got into the Mutagen?"

"Uh… maybe."

"Well lucky for you that's one I tampered with a little bit, trying to downgrade on the warping effect that it has on the minds of its victims, so we shouldn't have to worry about him losing his shit like Mutagen Man did."

"7/10 on the name, catchy but tacky at the same time." Spike noted dryly.

"Blunt and uncaring about how that makes me feel. I like him. Anyway we'd better head out soon, the sooner we can create a retromutagen the better."

"Works for me."

"But if we're gonna do this, then you'll need to gear up." Raphael opened up a cupboard filled with weapons "So take your pick."

"That was my plan." Spike picked up a Morning Star club, a black ninja mask, a few wristbands and leg warmers, and a black belt with an S on the front.

"Okay I've gotta give it to you Spike, you look awesome."

"You know I never really liked the name Spike, how about instead you call me… Slash."

"I like it." Kayla noted.

"So what's our plan?"

"Well in order to properly synthesize a makeshift retromutagen, I determined that I'm still missing one key ingredient: a molecular centrifuge. Without it, I won't be able to properly mix the necessary materials."

"Do you have any idea where we can find something like that?"

"As far as I know, the only place I can think of that could have a centrifuge would have to be at the TCRI building."

"But we blew that place up when we took down the Kraang." Raph pointed out "What could be left there?"

"I think there's only one way to find out, now let's get the hell out of here before the guys all start LARPing."

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Meanwhile…

Following Karai's orders, Dogpound was searching across the rooftops for Stockman, only to stop when he noticed his reflection '_You were once a feared warrior, now you're a common dog huning squirrels like Stockman. Stockman, I wonder… Maybe he can actually help me.' _he took another whiff of the air '_I've got his scent, looks like I'm heading to TCRI.' _and so he promptly took off…

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Meanwhile, in TCRI…

Soon enough, Kayla and the others hade made their way into the TCRI top levels, or what was left of it "Alright guys, spread out and start looking for anything of value." and so they started looking.

"Is this the centrifudge?" Raph held something up to her.

"It's called a centrifuge, and no that's just some beaker, and it has a crack in it."

"What about this?" Slash held something up.

"That's a mini fridge, actually hold onto that one."

"How about this?" Raph held something up.

"That's the same beaker."

"It might help if you told us what the fuck a centrifuge is!"

"And it also would've helped if you had told me you didn't know what it looked like in the first place."

"Okay this is going nowhere, I say we-"

"Quiet, listen. Someone's coming."

"In that case, hide." so they did.

As it turns out, Baxter Stockman had shown up in TCRI as well "Yes yes yes, all of this is absolutely perfect! Bio enhancers, DNA catalysts, everything I need in order to be able to create my own mutant army! Powerful and unstoppable, all at my command-"

"Dorkster Blockhead?"

"It's Baxter Stockman-" he whipped around only to freeze at the sight "Oh crap, turtle and bigger turtle and… girl in dragon mask? Oh come on, and I was having a good day too!"

"And he's got the centrifuge." Kayla barred her claws at him "Alright Stockman, hand over the tech."

"Well at least one of you gets my name right, but no, I found it first! Mousers, attack!" he sent forward an army of his Mouser robots.

Kayla wasted no time in ripping through them with he claws, with Slash ripping through several at a time with his morning start and brute strength and Raph using his sais, only for the battle to quickly be interrupted by Dogpound dropping onto the scene.

"Oh crap, Dogpound?!"

"Well well." Dogpound shot him a smirk "If it isn't weasly little Stinkman."

"Hey back off Dogpound, we found him first." Slash aimed his morning star at Dogpound, earning only a smirk in response.

"Stinkman, one of the Turtles, and some pathetic other friends of his? And here I thought I was having a bad day." Dogpound cracked his neck, flexed his pecks for some reason, and then he charged into the fray, which resulted in him and slash trading even blows.

Dogpound batted away Slash's morning star and threw Kayla into Raph, sending both of them crashing into a wall.

"Dammit he's got the centrifuge, get back here!" Kayla rebounded and chased after Stockman as fast as she could, only for their way to be blocked by Dogpound, and she was batted away once again "Ow."

"You're coming with me Stinkman, whether you want to or not." Dogpound slung Stockman up and over his shoulder "You want this thing, you can have it!" he hurled Slash's morning star at a support pillar, then took off through one of the tunnels.

"Dammit, he's got the centrifuge!"

"Both of you get down!" Slash covered both Raph and Kayla with his body while the support pillars crashed down on his shell, but fortunately none of them were hurt "You guys okay?"

"Yeah we're good, but they have the centrifuge." Kayla spat out some dust "And that guy hits like a goddamn bus."

"Come on, for now we should head back and regroup, maybe think of a new plan."

"And get some ice, cats may land on their feet but apparently I have a knack for landing on my head."

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Later…

Kayla brought both Raph and Slash down to her lab, now nursing an ice pack on her head "Well that could've gone a lot better."

"Welcome to the club." Raph looked over at Timothy staring at, his canister just sitting on the far wall of the room "Oh you're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"He can't even speak right now, I was in the middle of making some modifications to his voice box."

"Doesn't mean he can't shoot me any dirty looks." Raph smashed his fist into a wall "I just can't believe that fleabag beat us, I want a rematch!"

"Take it easy Raph, that's not going to help us here." Slash waved him off "He caught us off guard, that's all there is to it."

"Then we charge in there guns blazing, catch him by surprise instead, and then we shove that morning star of yours right up his furry-"

"Language." Kayla called him off, earning some looks "What, someone had to make that joke eventually, especially now that Chris Evans is out of the MCU."

"But you said it yourself, if you're gonna make the retromutagen then you're going to need that centrifuge thing." Slash pointed out.

"But in the meantime, if we're gonna get Dogpound and Stockman then we need to find out where they went."

"What about the old city dump?" Raph offered.

"No, they turned it into a retirement home. No one that lives there lasts more than a few months at the most."

"The abandoned nuclear plant?"

"Nope, now it's a nursery school."

"Stockman's old lab?" Slash offered.

"Either that or Shredder's lair, chances are Dogpound wouldn't go after Stockman unless they wanted him for something. I say we split up, two teams of equal power. Raph and me will check out Shredder's lair, Slash you check out the lab. If we find nothing then we'll meet back here in an hour." and so they bolted down into the tunnels connecting with the sewers, taking off in opposite directions.

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Meanwhile, in Stockman's lab…

As it turns out, Dogpound had indeed brought Stockman back to his lab, where a massive tank full of Mutagen was waiting for them "So a giant take full of Mutagen eh, let me guess you were planning on making some mutants?"

"Uh… yes, a whole mutant army for both of us to command!" Stockman gave Dogpound a terrified grin as he set down the centrifuge "Just the two of us, you and me!"

"Uh huh."

"Yeah, not that I'm complaining about this, but why exactly are you keeping me alive?"

"Because this is how Karai wants it, and she's in charge while Shredder is out of town. Believe me when I say this, I still owe you big time for trapping us in your little Maze of Doom."

"You aren't the only one." that was when Fishface showed up on the scene "So it looks like you beat me to the punch and found Stockman, did you?"

"I found him trying to take some Kraang stuff in TCRI, beat the shell out of one of the Turtles as I did. Turns out they've got some new allies. A girl with Black Panther claws in a dragon mask, and a new blue turtle the size of me."

"Ay caramba."

"Tell me about it, I like being tall. It's probably the only advantage this stupid body has going for it."

"Anyway, why haven't you taken this traitorous lump of flesh to Karai yet?"

"Oh believe me, I plan to. After he turns me human again."

"What? You mean he can actually turn us human again?"

"Uh… Yes yes, of course I can!" Stockman started lying through his teeth "My intellect knows no bounds, absolutely none whatsoever."

"Good, but our first order of business." Dogpound promptly locked a collar around Stockman's neck, which carried several small tubes of a certain ooze.

"Is this… Mutagen?!"

"Call it what you will, I like to call it insurance. Double cross and boom, we get to see what you turn into. If I had to guess, I'd say it'll probably be some kind of lowly bug."

What they didn't realize was that Slash was watching them from above '_If I had to guess, I'd probably say a slug or something spineless. But at the same time, looks like I was right about them coming here. Still though, the guy wearing a dog collar filled with Mutagen, that part I didn't see coming.' _he looked around at the equipment Stockman was using '_Okay, I see the centrifuge Kayla needs to create a retromutagen. The only question is, how do I get it without them seeing it?'_

Fishface wasn't keen on being left out of being turned human again "If you're going to make the dog man human again, then I wish to be a man as well. I want to live as a man, love as a man, not as a fish, do you hear me?"

"...Yeah I can't do this." Slash leapt down to the ground in front of them "How about this you guys, I take the centrifuge thing and get the hell out of here, and you can listen to the fish talking about being a whoremonger?"

"I'd rather you stay, mainly because I don't want to be the only one who has to listen to any of his crap. Eesh, and people think I'm ugly."

"You are, the only difference is that I've got a mace."

"Whatever. Fishman watch Stinkman, I want to tear the new Turtle to pieces myself." he charged at Slash and let his giant fist fly.

"You can try dog man!" Slash leapt off the wall and dealt Dogpound an uppercut with his morning star, sending him crashing into the glass ceiling, while Slash himself leapt onto the top of one of the support beams '_Fight heavy hitter with a heavy hitter.'_

"Oh you're going down spikeasaurus!" Dogpound leapt onto one of the support beams and charged at Slash in a rage.

"Like the former stupid one says, booyakasha!" Slash smacked Dogpound across the face with his morningstar and started running across the support beams and dodging every smash attack being thrown at him, only to find that one of them was unstable '_This one won't hold the weight of both of us, and the Mutagen tank is right below us. _Hey hold it Fido-Hulk, this thing is about to come down!"

"Then I'll make sure you go down first!" Dogpound pounced at Slash and crashed through the support beam, holding onto Slash's leg for dear life to avoid falling in.

"There can be only one, and I'm not a homicidal maniac!" Slash promptly smashed his morning star down on Dogpound's head, causing him to lose his grip and scream in terror as he fell into the Mutagen at below, while Slash himself returned to the ground "Eesh, don't dogs hate getting wet?"

"You're thinking of cats." Stockmand told him dryly.

"Right. So what happens now?"

"Well I have two theories. One is that if you mutate a mutant, then you get a super mutant."

"And the other?"

"He turns into a pile of goo." this was followed by Dogpound bursting out of the tank, not mutated into a new zombie werewolf look.

"Looks like it's the former."

"And it also looks like you're about to die." Razhar started slowly walking forward.

"Looks like someone needs some serious meet in his system."

"Yeah I know, I'm thinking of some turtle meat. That sounds real good right about now."

"...I walked right into that didn't I?"

"Yeah you did." Razhar grinded his new claws against the Mutagen tanker "I can feel the Mutagen coursing through my veins. I'm stronger, I'm faster, I'm more powerful than I've ever been before! I feel like a true ninja again!"

"Plus you lost a bunch of pounds, so that's a definite bonus too."

"Oh for sure, and to thank you for this, I'm going to make your end swift." Dogpound blitzed in front of Slash and slashed him across the chest with his claws, sending him skidding backwards into a wall.

Slash pulled himself to his feet and spat out some blood "Looks like he wasn't kidding." he was met with a roar and a barking laugh "Go ahead and growl all you like, you're still just a pasty faced dog."

"Don't ever call me a dog!"

"Fine then, how about Razhar?"

"...You know something I like that name, how about I show you how I like to express my gratitude?" Razhar prepared to charge at Slash with his claws barred, when…

"Back off the dino turtle, Werewolf by Night!" that was when Kayla dropped down onto the scene and used her claws to slash Razhar across the face, sending him tumbling into a nearby wall, and she dealt Raph a quick no looking high five after she finished "Yeah that's how I do it, you don't screw with a city girl and live to tell the tale."

"That line would've been good about five minutes ago." Slash pointed out dryly "So what took you guys so long?"

"We found out that Shredder's lair was a dud, picked up a Mutagen canister and dropped it of by my lab, and then we rushed back here as fast as we could."

"Huh. Well sorry."

"Plus I had to deal with listening to her mother and that hobo guy screaming over squirrels at the top of his-" Raph was cut off by a kick to the head from Fishface "Ow."

"New plan, scatter!" Kayla leapt out of the way of an attack from Razhar "Hey Slash, just out of curiosity and probably going to regret asking, what's up with Werewolf by Night?"

"Well in simple terms, I kicked Dogpound into the vat of Mutagen and he ended up getting double mutated, and I named him Razhar to go along with the new look." Slash told her.

"Huh. I like it." Kayla charged at Razar, only to end up getting grabbed by the head and swatted into a wall "Ow."

"Welcome to my world, that happened to me twice."

"Any chance either of you two found the centrifuge?"

"I got the thing, just leave it to me!" Raph charged in underneath Razhar's feet and swiped the centrifuge, only to get swatted away by Razhar, causing him to drop it, but he recovered in time to dodge an attack from Fishface "Ha, nice try fishsticks!"

Fishface let out a growl and snapped his head over towards Stockman "If I were you, I'd go ahead and get my Mousers out here right now!"

"Uh, yeah sure!" Stockman promptly summoned a large number of Mouser robots to fight for him and the others.

"Okay not gonna lie, these things I actually enjoy grinding into scrap metal!" Raph wasted no time in snuffing out one Mouser after another.

"You guys focus on that, Razhar here is all mine!" Slash leapt over an attack from Razhar and dealt him a kick to the head, sending him skidding backwards, only to end up on the defensive as he looked around, noticing a massive electrical wire attached to the Mutagen tanker, connected to an outlet in the wall '_And I think I know just how to do that. _Hey you mangy mutt, if you want me then I say come and get me!"

"I'll gnaw on your bones before you ever knew what hit you!" Razhar charged at Slash in a blind rage, only for him to duck and leave Razhar to strike the wire in the outlet, eletrocuting him on the spot and causing him to cry out in pain.

"And that's one of the many reasons why you don't mess with a turtle!"

"Save the gloating for later, for now get to high ground." Kayla told him.

"Right!" so the three of them retreated atop the support pillars.

Kayla was quick to claw out a sprinkler head, leaving it to rain down on everyone on the ground, electrocuting them until they were out cold, as well as causing all of the Mousers to explode in the process "Well that was fun, but just out of curiosity did anyone grab the centrifuge or do we have to go scrounge through TCRI again?"

"Fun as that would be…" Raphael held up the centrifuge "Come on, let's move before anymore of them show up."

"No arguments here." so the three of them left.

Not long after they were gone, that was when Karai showed up and woke up Stockman with a quick tap to the head with her sword "Rise and shine Stockman. You're working for me now, well me and the Shredder. Let's move."

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A few hours later, back in Kayla's lab…

Kayla plugged in the centrifuge and started mixing some chemicals "The only down side now is that it needs to mix for about 24 hours, and that's depending on whether or not I have the proper chemicals I need for the retromutagen."

"Well I say it's worth it." Raph dealt Slash a fist bump "Especially considering we're one step closer to finding a cure, and we've got ourselves a new Turtle on the team."

"Yeah, about that…" Slash looked somewhat nervous "I was thinking Raphael, and maybe I'm better off solo for the time being."

"Wait, what? But you and me, Raph and Slash, we could be a team like you said."

"I know, but you've already got yourself a team, a family that you can always count on. I need to go my own way for the time being, find my own path."

"But… where would you go?"

"In a few words, with me." Kayla told him "I talked with Slash earlier while you were gearing up, and I think he's a perfect recruit for a team I'm putting together. Sort of a Plan B in case anything ever happens to you and the other Turtles. He's in good hands Raph, I need you to trust me on this one."

"...I'm gonna be holding you to that." Raph dealt Slash a quick fist bump and hug "I'll see you later, Spike." and so he quietly departed through the tunnel that led to the sewers.

"Well… that was kind of painful."

"Give him time, he'll come to terms with it." Kayla patted Slash on the shoulder "Now in the meantime, let me tell you more about the Mutanimals Initiative."

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Later, back in the lair…

"Go up, up! No down, go down!"

"Use the eye beam, hit them with the eye beam!"

"Now grab that power up!"

"I can't concentrate with you two yelling in my nonexistent ears!"

Raph let out a sigh as he stared at a half eaten leaf in his hand '_Even listening to those idiots screaming at each other can't get me worked up.'_

"Something troubles you, my son?"

Raph looked up to see Splinter looking down at him "You already know about Spike, don't you sensei?"

"Kayla informed me earlier."

"Figures."

"Raphael, do you know what I do when I miss my loved ones from the past?"

"I focus on the friends I am surrounded by in the present."

"...Yeah I guess that makes sense, thanks Master Splinter." so on that note, Raph pulled himself to his feet and went over to the guys "Hey, so what does a guy have to do in order to get a place in your little competition?"

"Hey as far as I'm concerned dude, the next game is all yours." Mikey told him "So how did dumpster diving with Kayla go tonight?"

"It went better than I thought actually. Take my advice Mikey, don't let that one go."

"For the last time bro, she's not my girlfriend!"

"Agree to disagree."

**A/N:**

**This episode is what I meant by saying that I shuffled the order of the episodes, at least in the second season, and shifted some things around. In this case, I combined the events of the episodes Mazes and Mutants, Mikey Gets Shellacne, and Slash and Destroy.**

**With this chapter, we see Kayla finally earning the trust of Raphael, and now she's done so with all of the Turtles, but now Razhar and Fishface know what she looks like, which will have consequences that will come next chapter, which will most likely be one the biggest changes in canon in this fic.**


	6. Target: Kayla Kurtzman

**(Target: Kayla Kurtzman)**

The night was calm over the skies of New York City, but it was overshadowed by a considerable amount of tension.

Shredder looked down on Karai through a projection screen in disdain "_So daughter, not only do you disobey my orders in my absence, but your petty scheme failed miserably."_

"It was those stupid new Footbots, they couldn't keep up with the Turtles." Karai was quick to protest "Not to mention they have some new ally with them. But I do have good news, the Kraang have been upgrading them, so-"

"_Enough. Hear me Karai. You will have no more dealings with the Kraang until I return. Do I make myself clear?"_

"...Understood father."

"_Wait for my command, and do not defy me again. The consequences would be… unfortunate to say the least." _and then the communication cut out.

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And yet about 20 minutes later…

Of course, being who she is, Karai ignored Shredder's orders and made her way to a secret Kraang hideout, where she was presented with a massive suit of armor with rocket boots "Okay I'm convinced, not bad. So how long until it's online?"

"**By Kraang's calculations, nine Earth hours until-"**

"Nine hours? Okay that's a big fat steaming pile of nope, I want to test it on someone now. I have the perfect target too. You know who this girl is?" she held up a picture of Kayla in her dragon mask, drawing squeals of shock from all of the Kraang present "Do any of you have a problem with that?"

"**...Kraang sees no foreseeable problem, one known as Karai."**

"Good. Now let's speed up the process, you don't want to keep the Shredder waiting, now do you?"

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Things were actually pretty calm for our main protagonist and his love interest, since they were hanging out at a certain restaurant.

Mikey eyed Kayla with a certain degree of competitive drive "I've been putting up with your crap for a long time now, but this is about to get real."

Kayla promptly barred her claws at him "Oh believe me Mikey, this kind of pain is the last thing you want."

"I've been taking pain from my brothers for 16 years, a chick from the suburbs is absolutely nothing compared to that."

"Big talk for the runt of the litter, so are you sure you're ready for this?"

"What are you kidding, for this kind of thing I was born ready. We're ready Murakami-san, I say light it up!"

"One pizza gyoza, coming up." Murakami held up a pizza gyoza and tossed it using a pair of chopsticks.

Mikey and Kayla wasted no time in tackling each other to the ground in an attempt to grab the gyoza, which ended with Mikey pulling Kayla to the ground and opening his mouth in order to catch the gyoza.

However, that was when Kayla revealed her new asset: her claws extending out like Wolverine claws, long enough to catch the gyoza with ease "As far as I'm concerned, brains over brawn, any day and every day" she tossed the gyoza into her mouth "Take notes on that Mikey."

"You know that could be considered fighting dirty."

"It's called the element of surprise, you're a ninja so you should know that. You know this thing is really good."

"My restaurant was never that popular, at least not until I invented these for Michelangelo and his brothers." Murakami held out two trays of pizza gyoza.

"Looks like a lot of people owe the turtles, especially considering they saved the world and the city at least a dozen times now."

"What can I say, Splinter taught us well." Mikey gave a shrug, but then his face fell "But it's not like we haven't made our fair share of mistakes, like with April."

"She made the choice to abandon you guys, and as far as I'm concerned it's a pretty crappy choice at that."

"We're the ones that screwed up, I don't blame her for hating us."

"Well I do. Think of it like this Mikey, I lost my father because of the Kraang too, and the only differences between us an April in that regard are that I didn't throw a massive tantrum and bail on my friends, the only ones in the city if not the entire world, who could and would stop the Kraang, because I didn't know how to control and accept my anger and took it out on the first ones that I saw fit! The other difference between our situations, is that unlike me she has a chance to get her father back, and the only thing standing in the way of that is her own stubborn attitude problem and her lack of maturity. Sorry Mikey, but you're not going to change my mind about her." she picked up a bag that Murakami left for her "Putting that aside for now, thanks for teaching me the difference between pizza gyoza and a calzone. I guess a night out was what I needed to clear my head, especially since I'm still having no luck finding a retromutagen."

"Uh, yeah sure, whatever helps I guess."

"Great, let me know if any Kraang stuff comes up and I'll see you later." she patted him on the cheek, grabbed her bag of gyoza and promptly left.

"Well that was one of the most awkward exchanges I've ever been part of, and she's one of the ones that like us."

"Such grudges fade with time my friend." Murakami patted Mikey on the shoulder and handed him a bag of his own pizza gyoza "You should simply give April time, her grudge will soon fade away."

"I hope you're right about that Murakami-san, I really do."

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Later, back at the lair…

Mikey made his way into the lair with the doggy bag in hand "Sorry I'm late you guys, I've got the eats. What did I miss?"

"Not much." Leo gave a shrug "Latest episode of Super Robo Mecha Force, the princess is mad because the rest of the team forgot her birthday, she says never wants to speak to them again, she quits and she takes the foot of the robot with her."

"Huh. Sounds kind of like a serious deja vu moment, I mean have you noticed how these shows parallel our lives?"

"You notice that too? Well anyway, the princess has quit the team like 27 times up until now, and she always comes back."

"Yeah that's true."

"Let's just face the reality guys, April is gone for good." Raph told them flatly "Chances are we're never going to see her again."

Mikey glanced over to see Donnie working at his desk in his lab, only to freeze in place as he heard what Raph was saying "Fair opinion bro, but worst timing possible."

"Guys, we've got a problem!" Donnie bolted out of his lab with the Kraang Communication orb in hand "The Kraang are up to something again, we've gotta head to the Shellraiser."

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It didn't take long for the guys to get into the Shellraiser and be on their way.

Donnie was quick to work on translating the information from the orb "From what I can translate from the orb, it seems like the Kraang have been working on some kind of advanced heavy weaponry."

"You have any guesses as to what it could be?" asked Mikey.

"Who knows, I mean we've seen this kind of thing from them before, it could be something like the laser drill with the diamond lense, or maybe a heavily armed Mutagen bomb, it could be anything."

"Either way we know what we have to do." Leo told them "We get in there, find the weapon they're working on, and we destroy it, and then we get Mexican. Pizza."

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Meanwhile, in Midtown…

By this point, Kayla had made her way to the ice rink in Midtown, where she found two other people already there '_Definitely the last place I expected to be tonight, or ever actually.'_

As it turns out, it was April herself, watching Casey practicing hockey when she glanced over and noticed that Kayla was there "Oh hey Kayla, didn't expect to see you here."

"Neither did I, trust me. You tutoring Jones again?"

"No I gave up on that awhile ago, tonight I'm just here to hang out. What about you?"

"I couldn't concentrate, and before I knew it I found myself here, very much against my wishes for one main reason."

"Hey what's up Ponytail?" Casey promptly skated his way over to her "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Make that two main reasons."

"What, you wanted to hang out with the infamous Casey Jones?"

"Every fiber of my being was screaming at me not to, but I literally had nothing better to do right now."

"You're funny. I like that. So what's your deal, I get that you're new at school but I don't see you hanging out with anyone. You antisocial much?"

"Not as much as I used to be, I've got a few friends. Well mainly one friend and the rest of his family. Three brothers, they're all homeschooled by their single dad, they don't really get out that much."

"Homeschooled in New York, sounds like hell."

"Tell me about it, especially considering right now, I'm pretty much the only actual friend they've got."

"Eesh, only one friend. I know how that feels."

"Shocking isn't it?"

"You're snarky. I like that in a girl."

"Keep looking then."

"And a girl who plays hard to get."

"Hard to get is one thing, it's another if there's no getting a girl at all. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it Jones, you don't have a chance with me."

"I'll believe that when I see with my own eyes. Just hang on a second, I'll grab my gear and the three of us can get something to eat. Pizza." so he made his way out of the rink and back towards the locker room.

"We live in New York, I'm honestly starting to get sick of pizza."

"I can think of a few people that would probably look at you like you've got a second head if they heard you say that." April noted.

"I bet they would."

"Yeah. Hey Kayla, you mind if I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"Okay, I'm just gonna come out and say it. Are you-" April was cut off by a hole being blown through the wall, revealing a considerable number of Foot Bots standing there "Oh no, Foot soldiers?"

"Oh great, it has to be one of those nights." Kayla barred her claws and started fending off the blades of the Foot Bots.

April tried to do the same using her Tessen, though she was slowly being pushed back, only for her jaw to drop when they sprouted additional arms with additional weapons "Okay, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure these things are supposed to be human."

"Yeah well here's the thing about that." Kayla clawed off the head of one of them "They got an upgrade a few weeks back."

"How would you-?"

"I know a lot more than you think I do O'Neil, but that's gonna have to wait." Kayla jerked a thumb over to where the Foot Bots leapt onto the ice rink, and she and April both dropped into combat stances, when…

"Yo!" this was when Casey got their attention, being as much of a smug jackass as usual "If there's one thing that Casey Jones always has, it's sure as hell gonna be crackerjack timing."

"No time for your delusions of grandeur Jones, clear the hell out already."

"And what, let you and red have all the fun?" Casey promptly leapt onto the ice and hit two of the Foot Bots with hockey pucks right in between where their eyes would be "I've got these freaks, you two go already."

"Forget about that Jones, I know what they want." Kayla clawed her way through one Foot Bot without batting an eye.

"Cross check, two minutes." Casey blitzed through one Foot Bot and then pinned another to the icy ground with his hockey stick "High sticking. Hey by the way, it's not a penalty if they have it coming right?"

"More of a matter of perspective, but you won't receive any objections from me. Also, get the hell down!" Kayla leapt over Casey's back and clawed off the head of a Foot Bot that was about to attack him from behind.

"Not too shabby ponytail, looks to me like you've got some rink rage."

"Not really, just a lot of shit to work through."

"Fair enough. Looks to me like red's got it too."

"You should see me play ping pong." was April's smug contribution.

"So what the hell gives, do you owe these guys money or something?"

"Hold that thought." Kayla gestured over to where a large number of Foot Bots were closing in on them, adapting to the icy ground of the rink as she did so "Dammit, where the hell is a zambody where you need one? What I would kill to be Ryan Reynolds right now."

"You and me both."

"Take my advice and get out of here while you can Jones, you don't have any real stakes in this entire situation."

"What are you kidding me, do you know what this is? This is Casey Jones facing off against evil robo ninjas, the coolest freaking thing in the universe!"

"...If I didn't think that you had a rich fantasy life before, I sure as hell do now."

"I choose to take that as a compliment. GOONGALA!" and then he charged into the fray, dodging and weaving around every attack being thrown at him.

"I rest my case." Kayla clawed through another Foot Bot and then dealt the one next to it an uppercut kick to the jaw '_This isn't good, there are too many of them and I can't risk getting that idiot caught in the crossfire. Knowing those two, he probably thinks he can take all of them on his own, and she probably thinks they're after her, but they keep attacking me, which means… Well I guess there's only one way to find out. _Hey scrap holes, if you want me then you'll have to come and get me!" and she bolted out of the rink, with the majority of the Foot Bots following hot on her heels.

"Kayla!"

"You can't take them all on your own, you're gonna get yourself killed!" April tried to sprint after her, only to see a few Foot Bots blocking her way '_Most of them went after her, so does that mean that she's their target? But why go after her?'_

"Take my advice and stay out of this one red, at least that way the fight will be fair." this was when Casey swooped in with a new hockey stick in hand and let it fly forward, starting the battle anew.

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Meanwhile, with Kayla…

'_Come on you rejects, keep on coming.' _Kayla was bolting through the back alleys, luring the Foot Bots away from the ice rink as she pulled down her dragon mask, and she bolted up the side of a building using a grappling hook, leaving the Foot Bots to slam into the wall '_The big honchos are probably gonna send a second wave of these things in soon, I'll have to call in the backup before then.' _she quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed a few numbers.

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Meanwhile, with the Turtles…

At the same time, Leo and the other Turtles were staking out a Kraang hideout, seeing only a few on guard duty "Okay so we've got our entry point, we just need a distraction. Any suggestions for that?"

"Oh trust me, I'm way ahead of you. I've been working on this." Mikey stood and pulled out a light post from a nearby billboard "Go ahead and feel slightly nauseated if you want, but part of being a ninja is the element of surprise. Check this out, I've been practicing." he stuck his hands up to the light.

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Meanwhile, with the Kraang…

It only took a second for the Kraang to notice the shadows being made by Mikey, but keep in mind that they were semi-idiotic "Kraang, creatures known as rabbits have infiltrated Kraang's lab."

"No Kraang, clearly a small but obese pachyderm has breached Kraang's security."

"Kraang are both wrong, it is a belly dancer wearing what is known as a flamenco dress."

"Actually you're all wrong, it's us." this was when Mikey and the others swooped down from the rooftop and took them out in a few swift movements.

"Gotta give it you you Mikey, you've got some mad shadow puppet skills." Leo commented.

"Like I said bros, the element of surprise. Anyway that's enough talk, we'd better get moving and track down this new weapon."

"Right."

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Fortunately, it only took a matter of moments for Mikey and the others to stealthily make their way into the Kraang hideout and find them working on the new "Well from the look of it, I guess we just found the secret weapon. Is it just me or does that thing look a lot like Bradford back when he was still human?"

"Nevermind that now Mikey, I need to shut that thing down." Donnie told him.

"Got it, I'll give you some space." Mikey backed up a few feet, only for his shell to start vibrating, and he let out a nervous chuckle "Uh… sorry guys."

"Way to be stealthy Mikey."

"At least I kept it on vibrate, that's more than you can say." he pulled out his T phone from his shell "It's Kayla. Hey listen Kayla, now isn't really a good time. We're dealing with some Kraang stuff and-"

"_Back up a second shell hole, you're ripping into the Kraang without me?"_

"It was last minute, we didn't have time to-"

"_You know what forget it, that can wait. I'm dealing with my own stuff right now, in the form of a pack of Foot Bots trying to skewer me. I could use some backup."_

"Back up, what?! Sorry guys she needs me, I've gotta go. Hang tight for now Kayla, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Mikey you idiot come back, we need you here!" Raph was met only with the sight of Mikey taking off "That little son of a- Did he just ditch us?" and then the alarm started sounding through the hideout.

"**Altering of one known as intruder." **and then the Kraang noticed them and promptly started blasting at them.

"So we attack them now? Not waiting for an answer, let's do this!" and so the three of them charged into the fray.

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Meanwhile, back at the ice rink…

"Wrist shot, slap shot!" with April backing him up, Casey Jones was tearing through one Foot Bot after another with surprising levels of ease "Hey take my advice assclowns, you might wanna get that looked at." he even blitzed through a barrage of kunai being hurled at him and ripped the head off of a Foot Bot with ease before hurling it into a goal post "One to nada, home ice is in the lead. Whoever wants to be next, come and get some."

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Meanwhile, with Kayla…

By this point, Kayla had led the Foot Bots to the old playground, but it was here that she found herself surrounded "Alright fine, if it's a fight you guys want then I should warn you, as I am now I could give Black Panther a run for his money." then she was grabbed by a Foot Bot from behind "And unlike him, I don't mind playing a little bit dirty." she aimed a kick in between its legs, followed by a sickening crunching noise "The sad part is, I don't think that came from the robot."

"Good thing I'm here then." a certain pair of kama blades suddenly started ripping through the Foot Bots with ease, courtesy of Mikey as he dropped down onto the scene and wasted no time in ripping through the Foot Bot holding Kayla, freeing her from its clutches.

"Not too bad of an entrance, I'd give it maybe 8/10."

"I'll take what I can- Get down!" Mikey suddenly threw Kayla to the ground to avoid a volley of shuriken being hurled at them, and he scowled when he saw who did it "Karai."

Sure enough, Karai had made her way onto the scene with several Foot Bots behind her and a metal staff in hand "You know I was hoping for all of the Turtles to see this, but I guess one will have to do for the time being. Your rat master was responsible for taking away someone that I cared about, so now I intend to return the favor." she aimed her staff at them.

"You're gonna have to go through me to get to her." Mikey dropped into a stance, kama blade in one hand and nunchaku in the other.

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Meanwhile, back at the Kraang hideout…

At the same time, Raph and the other Turtles were ripping through one Kraang after another, whether it be Kraang droids or the ones in Kraang flyers, until the only thing left was the massive robot weapon they had created "Huh. You know Mikey was right, it actually does look a little bit like Bradford's human form." this was almost immediately followed by the robot, which shall be referred to as Chrome Dome from here on out, being released from its charging station and hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"Um guys, I hate to be that guy right about now, but the giant hulking robot ninja just finished charging." Leo pointed out.

"Yeah well, that thing doesn't look so tough!" Raph barred both of his sais and quickly charged towards Chrome Dome at full speed, only to be struck by it using its plasma whip and sent crashing into a wall.

"Raph!" despite the concern for their brother getting smacked into a wall, Leo and Donnie had to avoid an eye blast from Chrome Dome, and then they charged in with their weapons barred and ready to cut it down.

Chrome Dome was able to fend off both of them with ease, barely even flinching at the sensation of Donnie smacking it over the head with his bo staff, kicking him to the ground with a single move, and just as easily moving behind Leo to dodge a slash of his katanas and throwing him to the ground using its plasma whip, and then it moved in to finish him, but then it stopped as its eyes turned white "**Subroutine programming taking over. Target: Kayla Kurtzman, has been located." **and then it sprouted rocket jets in its boots and blasted off into the skies of New York City.

"That thing is going after Kayla, come on we've gotta move!" Leo and the others were quick to take off running "Well the good thing about Mikey taking off on us is, at least he's probably already with Kayla."

"I'm still gonna pound him for bailing on us like that." Raph told him flatly.

"I know, but the point still stands.

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Meanwhile, with the two main characters of this fic…

Mikey brandished one of his kama blades in one hand, and a set of nunchucks in the other as he got into a stance "There's no way in shell I'm letting you get anywhere near Kayla."

"Foot Bots, you guys keep the Turtle buss." Karai waved one hand and sent her Foot Bots forward, leaving Mikey to fend them off while she turned her attention to Kayla "This fight is between us girls, I want to see what you're capable of." she brandished her spear and promptly brought it down on Kayla.

"I think you'll find that I'm more capable than a certain redhead. Kayla stopped the spear with one of her claws, used the other one to propel herself off the ground to avoid Karai's attempt to sweep her legs out, and then she aimed a kick of her own.

Karai caught the kick with one hand and dodged an attempted slash from the claws "Your skills aren't bad all things considered, but you're still weak compared to me. I've had years worth of training."

"And you also talk too much, something else we have in common." Kayla aimed another kick towards Karai's head, but this proved to be a distraction as she slashed Karai across the face with her claws, leaving a noticeable cut across her face which actually drew blood "Even if I may prefer science over ninjutsu, I'm not some defenseless little girl either."

"A nice change of pace, but you're still going down all the same." Karai then brandished her spear again and dealt Kayla a solid kick to the jaw that sent her stumbling backwards a few feet, and then she charged in to finish it.

"I'm not letting you touch her!" Mikey stopped the spear with one of his kama blades, and then he trapped Karai using his nunchucks and pulled her in close "Now!"

"Way ahead of you!" Kayla blitzed towards Karai and dealt her a slash across the face and a quick uppercut kick to the jaw, sending her crashing to the ground, leaving her and Mikey to stand over her "Not too shabby for a New York girl huh?"

"I've seen enough to know that it's a big mistake to underestimate you." Mikey then looked up to see Chrome Dome drop down onto the scene "And it's also a bad idea to underestimate big robot guys that look oddly familiar, I'm gonna call him Chrome Dome."

"Might wanna trademark that while you can."

"I'll do it once we get out of this alive."

"I wouldn't count on that." Karai quickly rebounded and leapt over to Chrome Dome's side, her smug smirk never wavering "I hope you two like my new toy. Alright robot, do as I say and eliminate the girl."

"Not if I have any say about that!" Mikey charged towards Chrome Dome with his kama blades and nunchucks ready, only to get swatted aside with ease and sent crashing into a wall.

"You wanna go big guy, well let's go!" Kayla brandished her claws and charged at it, only to be caught in its plasma whip, her mind racing as this happened '_Dammit, maybe if I time it just right I can… no my claws would never withstand a blast of energy from Kraang tech. But then again, I don't see any other options right now. I might destroy these things but it's a lot better than getting killed.'_

"**System override: Do not destroy Kayla Kurtzman. Capture for the Kraang, bring in for interrogation."**

"Come again?" as Chrome Dome started taking off, Kayla used both of her claws to slash through the plasma whip Chrome Dome was using to bind her, which allowed her to return to the ground, only for the gloves to shatter into pieces the moment she broke free "Yeah that seems about right."

"**Orders to capture Kayla Kurtzman, bring in for interrogation."**

"Well being related to the biggest pain in the Kraang's membrane does have some advantages going for it."

"Yeah I know, but this seems like a bit of a double edged sword." Mikey pulled himself up off the ground and spat out some blood "You okay?"

"I'm not coughing up blood and I can still fight, you?"

"The latter of what you just said."

"Good enough for me." this was immediately followed by the Shellraiser screeching onto the scene and ramming Chrome Dome straight into the wall.

"Okay that works too."

"Oh shell yeah, firing the manhole covers! This thing can such on the flat end of my-" whatever it was Raph said next was cut off by the sound of manhole covers being fired at Chrome Dome, hitting him repeatedly.

This came to an end when Chrome Dome decided to use its eye beams to blast through the things, and then it used its plasma whips to grab Raph and throw him into a wall, and after this it lifted up the Shellraiser with its brute strength and threw it into a wall.

Leo and Donnie were quick to leap out of it, and the former could only groan at the sight "Oh come on, and I just waxed her too."

"I hate to break it to you guys, but we've got other things to worry about." Mikey jerked a thumb over at where Karai was attacking Chrome Dome in her rage, only for it to start attacking her and her Foot Bots "And believe me, it's hard to resist the temptation of Plasma chucks. So how about it Donnie, any ideas on how we can take that thing down?"

"Oh yeah, so now you're on the team!" Donnie shot him a glare as he rushed off.

"What do you-"

"Yeah man, way to ditch us back there!" Leo quickly rushed off as well, with Raph following his lead, but not without giving Mikey a certain finger gesture.

"Oh for the love of-"

"Look if you guys have anyone to be pissed at it's me, I'm the one who called him away so take it out on-" Kayla was cut off by Karai kicking her in the face, sending her crashing to the ground with a thud "Go ahead, say you don't need the robot to kill me, you were doing so well with that before." she ducked underneath a kick, only to be met with the spear slashing her across the arm, causing her to bleed.

"Kayla!"

"I'll help Kayla, you guys take that thing down." Leo quickly drew both of his katanas and rushed off to help Kayla.

"Got it, so what's the plan?" Mikey looked over to see Chrome Dome tearing through the last of the Foot Bots, and then set its sights on the three of them "I'm guessing it's gonna involve us trying to stay alive. I can dig that." so he charged into the fray alongside Raph and Donnie, and he quickly used one pair of nunchucks to grab hold of its plasma whip, with Raph doing the same with the other set on Chrome Dome's arm, binding it in place "So what now?"

"Now I do this!" Donnie dropped down onto Chrome Dome's back and pried open a panel on it, then ripped out the various wires included.

"Did that do it?"

"**Error. Error. Error."** Chrome Dome started malfunctioning as a result of this, and its torso started spinning around wildly, causing the three of them to scream as it did so.

"I take that as a no!" Mikey was sent hurtling to the ground, with Raph being sent flying into a wall, and then he looked around at the various battles unfolding '_Okay, Leo and Kayla are holding their own against Karai so that's okay for now. Raph and Donnie are little bit indisposed right about now, and Chrome Dome lost that plasma sword… Which could probably cut right through it if I could get close. This is it!' _so with the reflexes and stealth of a ninja, he quickly maneuvered his way around and behind Chrome Dome, and with one swift movement he used the plasma sword to stab Chrome Dome from behind, leaving it to fall to the ground and shut down in an instant "You know, part of me is really tempted to keep this thing."

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Meanwhile, with the Karai fight…

"I've had about enough of this!" Karai ducked under an attack from Kayla and dealt her a swift kick to the chest, sending her stumbling back as a result, but then she looked up and her eyes widened '_Dammit!'_

As it turns out, that was enough of an opening for Leo to swoop in and deal her a solid kick that sent her crashing to the ground, and then he aimed his sword at her "Forget it Karai, this fight is over."

"Maybe this one, but there's a lot more to come." Karai leapt up and threw down a smokebomb, and that was enough for her to make a quick getaway.

"Oh trust me, I'm counting on that."

"At least one of us is chipper about this." Kayla spat out a small amount of blood as she was helped to her feet by Leo, with the rest of the Turtles gathering around her "Thanks for the save back there."

"No worries, it's what friends are for. Sorry we didn't get here sooner."

"Mikey swooping in to make the save was good enough, at least he didn't try and make any puns about being a knight in shining armor. Speaking of which, I'd better get back to the rink and do some damage control before Jones gets himself and the redhead killed. Mikey, you mind dropping off what's left of Chrome Dome back at my lab? Thanks." and so she took off back towards the ice rink.

"What's that about?"

"My best guess is that she's gonna use that thing to improve her tech." Mikey told them "Every now and then I help bring her new stuff so she can upgrade, she pays me for it and we get money for pizza. It's a win win."

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Meanwhile, back at the rink…

At the same time, Kayla had made her way back to the rink and found the Foot Bots that were present had all been reduced to scrap metal and spare pars '_Huh, looks like Jones has more going for him than I gave him credit for.' _then she glanced over at her bag of leftovers '_At least my lunch for tomorrow is still good. I hope.'_

"Glad to see you made it out okay."

Kayla glanced over to see April making her way towards her '_Oh joy. _I led them into a trash compactor, good thing they've got about as much personality as a stack of bricks, and the common sense of them too. Where's Jones?"

"He's changing in the locker room. But in the meantime, do you have a second?"

'_This is karma for something, I just know it. _You're gonna have to make it fast, I've got some business to take care of and I can't be late."

"I've just got one question for you. Do you, happen to know any guys by the names of Donatello and-"

"That's how you're going about this, seriously? Yes I'm friends with the Turtles, for crying out loud O'Neil I've been dropping hints in front of your face for days."

"That's… about what I expected actually."

"My mom is old friends with Splinter, my uncle is a journalist tracking the Kraang, my dad was killed by the Kraang, the Turtles are the only ones who can stop the Kraang, and one of them happens to be one of the two people in this city who can create a retromutagen."

"You know a lot, don't you?"

"I'ms mart like that, I'm aspiring to become Rick Sanchez. I'm talking real goals here red."

"So do you know…"

"That because of a complete accident your dad is a mutant bat, and you made the incredibly stupid move of cutting ties with the Turtles."

"You're taking their side?!"

"It's either their side or yours, I think I made the right call, especially considering they're doing everything to fix it, whereas you're just sitting on your ass doing nothing about it."

"Don't assume you know anything about me!"

"Get real O'Neil, I know more about you than you know about yourself. I know that you were without your father for almost an entire year, and when you got him back he had been brainwashed by the Kraang, and after the Technodrome crisis, only for him to end up mutated again only a few weeks later because the Turtles made a mistake and he chose to save you from that Mutagen canister."

"Yeah, so what do you have to say to that?"

"This: Cry me a freaking river." she received a scowl "In case you weren't aware, I lost my father because of the Kraang just like you did, the only difference being that I didn't throw a massive tantrum and bail on my friends, the only ones in the city if not the entire world, who could and would stop the Kraang, because I didn't know how to control and accept my anger and took it out on the first ones that I saw fit! The difference between our situations O'Neil, is that unlike me you have a chance to get your father back, and the only thing standing in the way of that is your own stubborn attitude problem and your lack of maturity. Besides, even if you sever your ties with the Turtles, it won't stop the Kraang or the Foot from coming after you, so any chance of you having a normal life is null and void, so how about you do the smart thing for once in your life and get the bloody hell over it. The fact is that you had four of the greatest friends in the world, and because of your own stubborn nature, you threw them away like pieces of trash, and with it any chance of you getting your father back, and you have absolutely no one to blame for that but yourself." and with that, Kayla walked away, leaving April alone and pissed.

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About an hour passed, and things calmed down for all of the relevant characters.

Mikey and the others were watching another episode of Super Robo Mecha Force "Well the princess is back with the team, kind of saw that coming."

"Yeah, so they get to reunite." Donnie muttered "Now if only we could get April back as easily as that."

"Just don't say it around Kayla, I think I've already told you how she feels about that."

"Speak the devil's name and she shows up with the good stuff." this was when Kayla showed up, sporting a few bandes across her arms and her face, holding a large bag in hand "Yeah I made another stop by Murakami's and got some gyoza for the rest of you. Call it my way of saying thanks for pulling my butt out of the fire tonight."

"Hey it's what friends are for, we stick together no matter what, and if all else fails then it's time to kick butt. I heard that in a song once."

"Well it rings true, and sorry you had to take some crap from those three for bailing on them to save me in the first place." so on that note, Kayla set down the bag, walked up to Mikey and pulled him into a hug "It's kind of nice to know you've got a good friend that you can always count on." and then she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"...Nobody say anything, I've got a few kama blades and nunchucks with your names on them if you do." Mikey was met with the sound of chuckling from an unlikely source "For crying out loud, really sensei?!"

**A/N:**

**Yep, probably the biggest divergence from the canon series, at least for the time being, is that I'm extending the arc of April being mad at the Turtles, at least by a few episodes. I always thought that, for an arc that started at the beginning of the season, it didn't really pan out very much, so I'm extending it by a few episodes.**

**In order to compensate for the lack of April making up with the Turtles, I decided to have Karai target someone that could actually be considered a threat: Kayla. She's got brains and some skill to go with it. Plus what she said to April at the end was harsh sure, but it needed to be said, and considering how a fair majority of the fandom isn't a fan of April, at least in the 2012 series, I doubt many of you will think it's unjustified.**

**Now then, this will be rather grim, but it's necessary. In order to close out this chapter, I want to say that it's dedicated to the unfortunate passing of Chadwick Boseman, who died from colon cancer not long before this was uploaded. I only really knew him as Black Panther (which was in my top 3 favorite MCU movies by the way), but knowing that he worked on that and the other MCU movies while he was battling cancer… It shatters you. Rest in peace you great man, the best to your family, and Wakanda Forever!**


	7. The Good, the Bad, and the Casey Jones

"_Mutant monsters and robot ninjas are crawling out of god knows where, and they're trying to take over my city. I don't know how long it's gonna be before those freaks try and go after someone that I actually care about, whether it be my dad or my little sister… or April. I don't know when that's going to happen, but you can be sure as hell I'm not gonna wait around and find out about it. All my life I knew that I was mean for something greater, that I was never meant to be ordinary or surrounded by all that normal crap. Now I know for a fact that this is my calling, it's my destiny. A true warrior has to be prepared, both in body and in mind. Whether they be mutant robot ninjas or whatever, they can come at me all they want but I'll still rip them to shreds. Alright scum sucking mutated freaks of this screwed up world, because now you're about to face the wrath of Casey Jones."_

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It was a typical night of training in the lair.

Splinter addressed the four Turtles while they were in the middle of stretching in preparation for a training session "My sons, you are truly becoming a group of impressive warriors. However, if you wish to grow as a team, then you must know the strengths and weaknesses that each of you possess."

"And only then can we push past them." Mikey pulled out his kama blades and nunchucks, using one in each hand "Is that right sensei?"

"Precisely. Now then, this competition is going to be a free for all, and as such the last turtle standing wins. Hajime."

'_Knowing Raph he'll probably charge in first-'_

"You're going down!" in a flash, Raph suddenly blitzed behind Donnie and kicked him square into the big tree, leaving him to fall to the ground "Hate to break it to you Donnie, but this right here is a ninja eat ninja world."

"And you've gotta be prepared if you want to survive and thrive." Mikey quickly blocked a strike from Raph's sais using his kama blades "You were gonna go for me next, and then leave it up to you and Leo right?"

"And what if I was?"

"You know he said last Turtle standing right, that means every Turtle for himself, so if you want to get to Leo then you're gonna have to go through me!"

"Fine by me, if you wanna get your shell handed to you in the boss fight before Leo does, then I say go for it."

"Part of me is gonna enjoy wiping that smug grin off your face Raph, I'm not the same screwup I used to be."

"We'll see about that." Raph and Mikey promptly started clashing sais against kama blades, only for Raph to knock one of the blades out of Mikey's hand, but in the process he ended up losing one himself as it was knocked out of his grasp and into the side of the tree, but just as he managed to free it…

"You left yourself wide open!" Leo suddenly swooped in and dealt Raph a sharp kick to the face, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap.

"Looks like you won that one, and that means it's just the two of us."

"I've been looking forward to this, I have to admit." the two of them brandished their weapons against each other, katanas and kama blades respectively "I've been looking forward to seeing how far you've come."

"You and me both." Mikey was about to launch the first, attack but stopped when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye "Oh shell. Leo you'd better duck, looks like we just woke up the beast."

"What do you-" Leo whipped around too late, and was met with an elbow to the chest and a solid fist to the face, courtesy of Raph, which proved to be enough to knock him to the ground in a heap.

Donnie and Mikey were quick to rush to Leo's side, and even quicker to shoot a few pissed off glares in Raph's direction "For crying out loud Raph, what the shell was that?!"

"I-I didn't mean to hurt him." was Raph's feeble defense of his actions.

"Oh yeah, cause we're feeling the love from you attacking him from behind with all the self control of a crazed bull!"

"It was just an accident, I swear!"

"Didn't look like that from here." Mikey pointed out flatly "Looks like you just got mad that you lost."

"But I-"

"Enough Raphael." was Splinter's sharp interjection "We have spoken about this problem time and again. Anger is a dangerous ally with the potential to cloud your judgement, and as such you have to learn to control it, or else it will control you."

"But sensei I wasn't angry, I was just… determined to win." he was met with numerous unconvinced looks from the others "What?! I told you I wasn't angry! You know what screw all of this, I'm out of here!" and so he stormed out of the dojo, leaving the others to worry over this in silence.

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The night was calm, or about as calm as it could be in New York City.

"GOD DAMMIT!" that came to an abrupt end when Raph started throwing a tantrum across the rooftops "This always happens, I can keep myself under control just fine until those guys decide to push my buttons!" he threw a shuriken at a satellite dish, causing it to topple over "It's not like I was trying to hurt Leo, they just don't get it!"

"Why does this conversation sound familiar?"

Raph looked over to see Kayla drop down next to him with a canister of Mutagen in hand "Oh great, just what I need, Mikey's #1 fangirl."

"Compare me to a fangirl again and you're gonna turn into a pile of goo on the sidewalk. Don't forget what I'm holding. Alright start talking Mr Personality, what happened?"

"I was sparring with Leo and it got a little bit out of hand, and then they all started jumping all over me for it."

"Meaning that he beat you, you lost your shit and attacked him like a rapid animal."

"Hey it wasn't my fault, I'm always fine until they push my buttons. They just don't get it."

"Sounds emo as all hell."

"Oh shut up."

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Meanwhile, with he with a rich fantasy life…

On another end of the spectrum of brooding, Casey was sitting on a rooftop overlooking the city, waiting for something to do, quickly getting bored in the process "I know for a fact that my city is infested, a boil, a festering sore, it stinks with pure evil poking out from every corner. And the only one who can face it is Casey Jones. Actually crime fighting is pretty boring, when the hell is something going to happen?" and then he freaked out at the sight of a rat scurrying a few feet away from him "For the love of god, I hate those furry little freaks!" and then the sound of a loud crash got his attention "About time I got something to do."

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As it turns out, it was Fong and the Purple Dragons mugging a guy in an alley, a malicious smirk plasted across Fong's face as he pulled out a dagger "Well what the hell do we have here, looks like a walking ATM just ripe for using to make a pretty big withdrawal. Make sure you hand it all over, and don't forget about that watch." he was met with the sound of a hockey puck hitting the big one in the face and knocking him to the ground "What the hell?" this provided enough of a distraction for the guy getting mugged to make a break for it "Okay what the hell was that supposed to be?"

"That would be yours truly." from the shadows emerged Casey Jones himself, his hockey mask being worn over his face, with a hockey stick in hand "You pieces of crap picked the wrong night to come around here."

"Nice outfit jackass, so who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"I'm the last thing you see before you wake up in the hospital." Casey promptly used his hockey stick to slam Fong into the ground, then went on to throw the big one (I think his name is Sid) into a nearby trash can, and then throw him and the can into the last member (I think that one's name is Tsoi), sending both of them crashing to the ground, before going on to brutalize the three of them even further.

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What was going unnoticed was that Raph and Kayla were watching Casey go to town on the three idiots from their place on a nearby rooftop "You've gotta be kidding me, this dude is completely out of control!"

"Look familiar to you?" Kayla asked dryly, only to be met with what a certain finger gesture from Raph.

"I say it's time for a little bit of intervention."

"Well you're gonna have to do it on your own, I've got a Mutagen canister on my radar not far from here, so I'm dealing with that. Have fun with it." and so she took off across the rooftops, leaving Raph to pounce down towards the alley.

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"Casey Jones shoots, and Casey Jones scores assholes!" Casey took a lot more glee than he should've in watching Fong try and make a break for it, and he promptly knocked him to the ground with a hockey puck aimed at his back, and then he turned to the others "And then there were two."

Sid and Tsoi were left trying to cower in fear for their lives "Hey come on man that's enough, we give up already!"

"Not good enough for me, I'm not finished with you two lowlives yet." Casey prepared to bring down his hockey stick on the two of them, only to be met with Raph yanking it out of his hand from behind and then disappearing into the shadows "What the hell? Alright who's back there, get out here and show yourself!"

"How about you cool it the hell down a few notches." this was when Raph emerged from the shadows, both of his sais in hand.

"Seriously, another mutant?"

"Yeah that's right, you got a problem with that?" this caused him to burst out laughing.

"What the hell are you supposed to be, some kind of turtle ninja?" but then his laughing was quickly cut short when he saw the Purple Dragons making a break for it "Hey get back here you filthy scum, I'm not done with you yet!"

"Hey take it easy man, let me handle this." Raph put a hand on Casey's shoulder, only for it to be jerked away.

"Get the hell out of my way."

"You know something dude, anger is a really dangerous ally. Why don't you just cool off for a little while?" he said this while shoving Casey into a wall.

"That's it lizard, I'm already done with you. GOONGALA!" Casey brandished a bat in one hand and a hockey stick in the other, and he promptly charged forward.

"I thought I told you to back off!" Raph quickly ended up on the defensive, fending off Casey's rapid attacks before kicking him into a nearby dumpster.

"You're the one who let those muggers go, you're gonna pay for that freak!" Casey burst out of the dumpster and slammed Raph into a wall, and then he tried to follow up with a smash attack to the head with his bat.

Raph leapt over the bat and hurled forward a volley of shuriken.

Casey was quick to use his customer blocker glove to shield himself from the volley of shuriken with ease "Okay I've gotta admit, throwing stars are pretty cool."

"If you think those are cool then you're gonna lose it when I show you my sai."

"I say show me what you've got, then I'll shove it right up your shell." the two of them brandished their respective weapons and then charged at each other at full speed, sais clashing against a hockey stick and baseball bat, which ended when Casey dealt Raph a blow to the back of the head that knocked him to the ground "Didn't I once hear somewhere that Turtles are supposed to be endangered?"

"Only the ones that can't do this!" Raph quickly dealt Casey a two-legged uppercut kick to the jaw, sending him crashing to the ground "That answer your question?"

"Oh yeah, and I'm gonna change that in a minute!" Casey was quick to rebound and charged forward towards Raph with both weapons barred, the two of them rapidly taking their clash out towards the street, which was where he leapt over a car to avoid an attack from Raph and revealed a trick he had up his sleeve: retractable roller blades built into his shoes "Alright freakshow, let's go for the next round."

"Fine!" with his frustration showing, Raph barred his sais and charged forward.

Now that he had his skates on, Casey started weaving around Raph's attacks with noticeable levels of ease, dealing Raph a few light attacks here and there until he finally knocked him clear off his feet.

With his rage finally boiling over, Raph grabbed Casey by his hockey stick and slammed him down on the hood of a car, and he attempted to bring down one of his sais on Casey's face… but then he stopped as he came to his sense '_Oh god, what the shell am I doing? Maybe I do have some anger issues going for me.'_

Seeing that Raph was distracted, Casey took the opportunity to zap him with his homemade taser, sending him tumbling across the street, while Casey himself hitched a ride by grabbing onto the back of a taxi passing through the scene "Better be ready Turtle, cause you sure as hell haven't seen the last of me!"

"Yeah forget it assclown, you better run or skate or, whatever!"

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Another day came, and high school was in full swing.

April and her friend Irma were making their way to class, when the found Casey at his locker, and she couldn't help but make a few light hearted jabs at him "Well well, the great Casey Jones finally makes to class on time? What a surprise, but I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later right? So are you ready for the big trig exam?"

"Trig exam? Oh yeah that, I was up all night studying." Casey turned around to face them, revealing the various bruises and black eye he got from his fight with Raph the night before.

"Really, did your homework decide to punch you in the face?"

"No, I had to deal with a late night hockey practice that got called up at the last second. No big deal or anything."

"Wait a second, I thought I heard that the ring is closed ever since that mysterious fight broke out there a few weeks back?" Irma gave him a suspicious smirk "So tell me something Casey, how exactly did you get all of those bruises?"

"What the hell are you supposed to be Irma, my interrogator?"

"Fine, go ahead and be all mysterious." Irma simply pushed up her glasses and took her leave.

Casey quickly grabbed April by the arm and leaned in, his voice low "I saw something crazy last night, and I mean mutant crazy." that left her frozen and in a stunned silence.

"Come on April, we've got an exam to get to and I am not gonna be late this time." Irma was quick to drag April away, receiving no resistance or reply from her.

'_What's to stop this Turtle guy from going after he?'_

"Brooding over your rich fantasy life again?" this was when Kayla made her way over towards him, backpack in hand "And contemplating your life choices?"

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that you look like you got pimp slapped a couple dozen times?"

"Not too far from the truth actually." he leaned in and lowered his voice so that only she would be able to hear "I saw something crazy last night, and I'm talking ninja crazy."

"Uh huh. Hold that thought, I've gotta check something out."

"Don't we have a trig exam?"

"I already finished." and so she promptly walked away, leaving Casey eyeing her with a raised eyebrow.

'_I can never get a read on that one.'_

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The sun had only recently set over the skies of New York City, and everything seemed calm in the lair as well.

Mikey sat in front of the TV with Kayla, discussing a certain form fanmade parody of a very popular franchise "So what are these guys called again?"

"They call themselves Team Four Star, TFS for short." Kayla told him as she downed a few pieces of popcorn "The short version is that they remade DBZ as an abridged series starting from the Saiyan saga up until the end of the Cell Saga, and all of the movies and specials up to that point too, canon or not."

"And it's good?"

"Oh it's freaking iconic in every sense of the word, and in a good way."

"So why did they remake it in the first place?"

"Aside from a good natured love of Dragon Ball and making a crap load of merchandise, they basically made it a more comedic take on DBZ, but they still put in serious moments and stay true to the actual show, especially when they hit the Cell saga. It's caused a few problems here and there though."

"How so?"

"Well a lot of people are speculating that they're the reason why Goku is made as stupid as he is in Super."

"Oh so that's what it is." this was when Donnie came out "They're blaming these guys for that whole mess?"

"Yeah pretty much, so basically another case of the older fans whining about how it's not exactly like Z."

"Hey come on Kayla, don't be like that. I'd be really irritated to if they made a bunch of pointless changes to something that I enjoyed in my youth. It's why I raged so much when I found out about the Thirteenth Doctor. And it's probably why fans have been so divided over the Last Jedi."

"But the thing Star Wars, Doctor Who and the Dragon Ball franchise have in common is that they're all willing to change. They have to cater to new fans so they can keep going and keep making more money."

"But that doesn't mean you can just ignore the older ones."

"That's the hard part that any massive franchise has to deal with, striking a balance between the old and the new. Some succeed at that and some don't."

It was at this moment that Raph saw Leo make his way into the room and called him over "Hey you got a second Leo?"

"You're gonna have to make it fast, I was gonna check out this anime parody thing that Kayla has been talking about." Leo told him.

"Yeah cool, so here's the deal. I, well… I'm sorry."

"What was that?"

"I said… I was sorry. "

"One more time?"

"Oh for- Sorry okay, I'm sorry!" this was met with jaw dropped stares from Donnie and Mikey, and a low whistle from Kayla "I thought I had I had my anger under control and it turns out that I didn't, but now I do, for real."

"Uh huh."

"He means for now, I give it 10 seconds max before he blows his top again." and so Kayla then started counting down as if to condescend Raph.

"So what are you saying Raph, it's not that you are angry but that me and the rest of us make you angry?"

"I never said that." and then he got fed up with Kayla counting down "SHUT UP!"

"No." was Kayla's blunt retort "You did last longer than I expected though, I didn't expect you to make it past 7."

"Blow it out your ponytail!" and so he started storming away.

"Oh come on dude, you know we're just busting your shell, so quit whining and sit down and watch some Team Four Star." she was met with Raph hurling a shuriken at her bag of popcorn, but she merely used one of her sets of claws to cut right through it, earning a few jaw dropped stares as a result "Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I scrapped Chrome Dome and used his parts to make new weapons and gear for myself. First example, plasma claws that can cut through pretty much anything they come across, flesh included."

"Son of a- You little-" Raph let out a snarl and promptly stormed out of the lair, his mind racing with his poorly controlled anger '_These sons of shellholes are making me go nuts, they just don't get it! None of them do!'_

Ka yla just watched him go for a moment, then turned back to the others "So anyway, DBZ Abridged has 60 episodes and 8 movies, along with 4 specials that aren't actually canon but still entertaining as all hell. Now for the next best abridged series and the steaming pile that it originated from… Sword Art Online."

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Meanwhile, with another angry brooding jackass…

Now geared up and out on patrol again, Casey was sitting on a fire escape and writing in his journal, his mind drifting to his previous encounter with Raph '_It's been a full three days and my body still feels like a punching bag. That Turtle is a worthy opponent, I've gotta give him that much at least.' _and then he looked up and saw Raph throwing a tantrum on a rooftop on the other side of the street '_And it looks like it's time for the second round.' _and so he quickly made his move to follow Raph, making sure to avoid being seen.

However, what he failed to notice was that a number of Foot Bots were watching him from afar, and made to follow him while remaining stealthy.

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Meanwhile, back in the lair…

"Some kind of crappy line about anger issues, who the shell has anger issues? I don't have any anger issues, maybe they have anger issues!"

"Oh for the love of-" Kayla let out a sigh and closed the lid on her laptop "Well it sounds like Mr Personality is back, but putting him aside for a minute that's the end of episode 60, the last episode of DBZ Abridged."

"And they stopped after that?" asked Mikey.

"As much of a shame as it is, they did. They said they didn't want to risk burning out and ruining the thing they love doing like most other shows, and as much as it pissed me off at the time it does make sense. The last thing we need or want is for a masterpiece like this to end up turning into post movie Spongebob, the later seasons of Fairly Odd Parents, or any of the cartoons that were made by Seth Macfarlane. Or Power Rangers for that matter. Anyway you guys go ahead and watch the epilogue, I'm gonna go grab some of Mikey's leftover pizza. The edible stuff anyway. Be back in a few." and so she made her way towards the kitchen.

"Just don't touch any of the good stuff, as in the stuff only I would eat."

"And the stuff that only you can stomach." this was when Raph made his way back into the lair, earning a few dull looks from the others.

"Look who's finally back, so you cool of yet?"

"I'm always cool, now shut up and move over."

What none of them noticed was that Casey was hiding by the entrance, and his jaw dropped beneath his mask '_You've gotta be kidding me, there's four of them? I'd better make some adjustments to my gear before I take on four of them at the same time.' _he made to leave, but the gear strapped to his back knocked over a few nearby pizza boxes, which quickly drew the attention of the Turtles "Oh crap."

"For the love of shell, you again?!" Raph was quick to pounce at Casey, which provided an opportunity for Mikey and Donnie to grab him "I thought I got rid of you the last time you jackass."

"I told you that you hadn't seen the last of me turtle scum, and tell your buddies to get the hell off me!"

"Yeah hold that thought for a second." Leo promptly pulled off Casey's mask, only for he and the others to yelp at the sight of the black and white stuff on his face "Wait a second it's just face paint, he's just a kid."

"And you're bunch of man sized Turtle freaks, now get the hell off of me!"

"Okay I'm just gonna go on record and say it, there is no way you should be able to consume at least half of the stuff in that fridge. It just defies any sort of logic." this was when Kayla made her way out of the kitchen with a slice of pizza in hand, only for her expression to turn dull at the sight of Casey struggling against the Turtles "Speaking of things that defy logic, now I have to deal with this idiot. Alright let him go guys, he's cool."

"Wait what?" now that got a reaction out of both Casey and the Turtles "You know this guy/ You know these guys?"

"He's the idiot from school with the rich fantasy life I told you about. Which brings us to the question of the hour, how the hell did you get here Jones?"

"I got a better question for you ponytail, how the hell do you know these freaks?" Casey was quick to back away slightly after being set free.

"They're not freaks you dipshit, those are the friend and his brothers that I told you about." that seemed to calm him down a little bit, and made him lower his weapons.

"Hold up, so you mean they're not the bad guys?"

"They're anything but the bad guys, and truth be told they're the ones who stopped the whole Death Star thing a few months ago."

"The one that…"

"Killed my dad? Yeah, but I'm not going to dwell on that. Casey Jones, meet the finest heroes this city has protecting it. The blue one with the swords is Leonardo, the purple one with the staff is Donatello, you've already met Raphael over there, and the orange one and the one I tolerate the most out of them is Michelangelo." this prompted all of the Turtles to wave.

"So what then, the Turtles are all Italian or something?"

"Not exactly." this was when Splinter came up to him "I named them after my favorite painters and artists from the Italian Renaissance." the only response he received was Casey screaming and fainting "Um… was it something I said?"

"Oh yeah I probably should've mentioned this sooner, but it turns out he has a crippling fear of rats. Give me a second." Kayla promptly smacked Casey across the face to wake him up and yanked him to his feet "This is their dad Splinter, he's cool so you don't have to worry. Just don't screw with his cheese."

"You do not have to fear me my friend, rest assured I do not bite."

"Unless you screw with his cheese, I literally just went over this."

"He's a giant t-t-talking rat?" Casey was let jaw dropped and literally shaking.

"Pretty much yeah."

"Oh please." Raph let out a snort "The big bad vigilante is afraid of rats, that's just pathetic."

"To which I counter with this." Kayla held up a cockroach, which literally scared Raph into hiding in his shell, but then she looked up and her gaze hardened "Fun and antics aside, we've got shit to do right about now." she looked up at the several Foot Bots quickly dropping down from the ceiling.

Leo and the others were quick to draw their weapons "For crying out loud Raph, you led the enemy right to our lair?!"

"Hey it's the kid's fault, he was the one following me!" Raph was quick to protest as the Foot Bots started attacking.

"How the hell was that my fault?!" Casey didn't waste any time as he started beating down one Foot Bot after another, with Kayla, Splinter and the Turtles all doing the same.

"You're the one that did this!"

"Hey they followed you too dude, all I did was follow the sound of a five year old screaming his head off!"

"Enough!" Splinter was quick to oneshot a number of Foot Bots with a series of quick blows, which left the Turtles in awe "Stay alert, there are more of them coming." this was immediately followed by at least a dozen more Foot Bots entering the lair, evidently scanning their surroundings.

"Shit, they're trying to get a read on your location." Kayla swore as she cut down a Foot Bot with her claws.

"We must not allow that robot to escape."

"Way ahead of you rat man." Casey was quick to chase after the Foot Bot "Casey Jones is on the case."

"Tell Casey Jones that we don't need his help." Raph promptly shoved Casey to the side and chased after the Foot Bot himself, with Casey shoving himself to the front, and Raph then pulling out a grappling hook to grab onto the robot, only for it to pull Casey back instead.

"Hey what the hell are you doing?!"

"I should be asking you that, you're the one that got in my way!" the two of them kept bickering as they chased after the robot.

"Oh for crying out loud, they met two minutes ago and they're already bonding. I guess one muscle bound jackass will automatically be drawn to another." Kayla clawed her way through several Foot Bots as she watched the two of them.

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Meanwhile, with the jackasses in question…

Casey and Raph continued their pursuit of the primary Foot Bot, only to find several more of them of them waiting to ambush them "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, where the hell did that thing go?"

"Less talking, more ripping these things apart!" Raph didn't waste any time in tearing into one Foot Bot after another "Let me tell you now that if that thing gets back to Karai and gives away our hideout, you're gonna be answering to Splinter!"

"You mean the giant rat? Wait hold that thought!" seeing the Foot Bot they were looking for trying to make a getaway, Casey was quick to mark it with a makeshift paint grenade using a can of spraypaint.

"How about next time you use your brain and tag the thing with a real grenade!"

"At least this way we know which one we have to turn to scrap metal first!" Casey promptly activated his makeshift roller blades and started chasing after the tagged Foot Bot "Faster dude, move that shell of yours already!"

"I say you can blow it out your hockey stick!" Raph had to chase after Casey on foot, unaware of the fact that a train was coming on the same track they were running on, until…

"Move it!" Casey yanked Raph out of the way right before they got hit by the train "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, uh… thanks. Oh crap there it is, let's go!" Raph pointed at the Foot Bot riding on top of one of the train cars, and with a newfound determination and sense of respect for each other, he and Casey traverrsed onto the roof of the train and began fighting against the Foot Bot two on one after it pulled out a series of saw blades, but this came to a quick halt when the Foot Bot dealt Casey a sharp blow to the side and nearby blew him clear off the rooftop, but fortunately this didn't pan out as Raph grabbed him by the hand and pulled him back up at the very last second "You good?"

"Yeah I'm good, thanks Raph."

"Now we're even, so let's get this piece of scrap metal."

"Right!" so Casey chased the Foot Bot into the train car through a broken window and started attacking it relentlessly as the train pulled to a stop in the subway terminal.

"Get the shell out of my way!" this was when Raph leapt into the subway car and started attacking the Foot Bot himself, eventually kicking it down a flight of stairs.

"Step aside shell hole, I can take this robot down myself!" Casey skated down the railing and pulled out a baseball bat.

Raph on the other hand leapt over the railing and hurled one of his sais at the Foot Bot, pinning it to a pillar, only for it to free itself and make a break for it "It's trying to make a break for the streets, we can't let it get away! You'd better be ready for this!" he grabbed Casey by the arm and hurled him forward.

"Trust me turtle man, Casey Jones is ready for anything!" Casey surged forward and promptly stunned the Foot Bot using his self made taser, causing it to tumble down the stairs.

This gave Raph the opportunity to stab it right between the eys with one of his sais, finally causing the robot to shut down.

"That was… a lot closer than I would've liked."

"Yeah, you tend to get used to that. You know you're a pretty good fighter Jones. I mean sure you're raw, unfocused, dangers and crazy as all hell, but you're not bad."

"Thanks for that, you know you're not so bad yourself. For an amphibian that is." the two of them clashed hands and exchanged a few fake punches, and then they started making their way back towards the lair.

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Meanwhile, back in the lair…

Leo didn't miss a beat as he cut down two Foot Bots in a series of clean strokes "So is that all of them?"

"Give it a second." Kayla cut down the last Foot Bot with one sweep of her claws "Okay now that's all of them, and just throwing this out there, I call dibs on the scrap metal these things leave behind." she was met with a few looks "What, you think these claws come cheap? Speaking of cheap, anyone notice we're missing two muscle bound jackasses?"

"I mean seriously dude, the thing way we chased that thing down and the way I shocked that thing with my stunner, how kickass was that? And don't forget about the whole subway chase, that was the most kickass part." this was when Casey and Raph made their way back into the lair, only to find that the battle was over "Hey what's up, you guys didn't bother leaving any more robots for me and Raph to take care of?"

"So apparently the two of you supposedly formed bonds of friendship while beating the ever loving crap out of each other? Yeah that sounds about right."

"Damn right it does ponytail."

"So it would seem." this was when Splinter came up to the two of them, causing Casey to hide behind Raph on instinct "I see that you have found yourself a new ally Raphael."

"Yeah well, what can I say?" Raph gave a shrug "Casey is pretty cool."

"So it would seem. Thank you for helping my family in this time of need."

"Yeah, what he said."

"Not a problem rat dude." Casey gave a confident smirk "That wasn't too bad of a warmup, but now I say it's time for us to clean the scum off the streets."

"You're damn right!" and then they butted heads.

"Now let's get moving!"

"Yeah hold that thought for a second, you're coming with me." Kayla promptly grabbed Casey by his gear and started dragging him away "First of all I'm not dealing with more than one of you idiots at a time unless I have do, and second of all if you're serious about this then your gear is gonna need some upgrading. Luckily for both of us, I've got more than enough material to use for it."

"Yeah." Mikey let out a chuckle upon noticing the look Casey was shooting their way "She's got kind of a "go get em" attitude and doesn't really take no for an answer, but you get used to it pretty soon. I think."

**A/N:**

**And now we finally see Casey Jones become a full fledged ally of the Turtles, and pretty much the team's second Raphael. Yeah, part of me has always wondered how things would've gone down if Casey had met the Turtles during the time period where they were separated from April. This gives Casey a chance to bond with the Turtles without April being involved, and it gets rid of the love triangle that existed between April, Donnie and Casey, which was really the only thing about the show that I wasn't too fond of.**

**So yes, in case the exchanges in this chapter didn't make it clear, I'm a die hard fan of TFS, have been for years. It really saddens me that they stopped after the Cell saga was finished, but there's no point in being upset over it, because I know it's not going to change anything. All we can do is adapt to the situation, we carry ourselves like professionals and not give into juvenile impulses. We let ourselves feel sad of course, but we don't give into it. We do what we can to honor the legacy they left behind and keep it alive however we can. That is what a true fan does.**

**As for Sword Art Online Abridged, I started watching it last week and I fell in love with it almost instantly. I totally recommend it to anyone who loves a good parody series.**


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